Operationalizing the Trade Facilitation Agreement

Full implementation of the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which entered into force on 22 February 2017, is estimated to produce up to US$1 trillion dollars in global export gains annually and create 20 million jobs worldwide, and America will benefit from making it happen. The TFA is a multilateral trade agreement designed to unclog the pipes at customs and borders. Improving global trade mechanisms will have sweeping economic benefits: better infrastructure, export diversification, and decreased corruption. Uniquely, the Agreement allows for implementation time horizons and support needs to be determined by each country for each provision. Most notably, the TFA is an opportunity for the United States to continue to lead on global trade issues and reinforce the rules of the global order through helping developing countries play by those rules and, ultimately, benefit from them, too. 

Please join us on July 18 for this important discussion.