Trade policies for combating inequalities : equal opportunities to firms, workers and countries

In the last four decades, international trade, along with finance and technology, has been instrumental in the development process of many countries.

Trade reforms undertaken in developing countries have been accompanied by more rapid economic growth, leading to a reduction in income gaps and lower levels of inequality between countries.

While the process of global trade integration has contributed to broad economic gains at country levels and convergence between developed and developing countries, yet it has also been accompanied by polarization in the distribution of income, sometimes increasing within-country income inequality.

The increase in within country inequality is possibly a cause behind the current reaction against globalization, international trade and the multilateral trading system.