During the last decade international trade has been characterized by a progressive shift in the use of trade policy instruments.

While tariff protection remains an important instrument only in certain sectors and/or for a limited number of countries, the use of other, non-tariff trade restrictive, measures has become more widespread. The years after the latest global economic and financial crisis have also been characterized by volatile exchange rates and episodes of competitive devaluation, which have had important repercussions on international trade flows.

As of 2013, around one-third of world trade was free under most-favoured-nation (MFN) regimes, with an additional third exempt from tariffs due to preferential access. Still, despite a significant portion of international trade being duty-free, the remaining share is often subject to substantial tariffs. Tariffs remain relatively high and tariff peaks continue to affect important sectors, including some of key interest to low income countries such as agriculture, apparel, textiles and leather products. Tariffs also remain quite restrictive for most South-South trade. Tariff escalation continues to be a common practice in many tariff regimes, with possible implications for developing countries’ value-added activities and export diversification. Moreover, the process of tariff liberalization of the last decades has considerably slowed down in the years following the economic crisis, especially on an MFN basis.

In spite of the economic crisis, the process of deeper economic integration has remained strong at a regional and bilateral level, with an increasing number of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) being negotiated and implemented, especially on a regional and North-South basis. PTAs increasingly address not only goods but also services and often deal with rules beyond reciprocal tariff concessions to cover a wide range of behind the border issues. Still, South-South economic integration remains weak and often limited to a regional scale.

One effect of the proliferation of PTAs is that they distort international competitiveness by providing different trading partners with different market access conditions. This has repercussions for many lower income countries as their preferential margins erode and their competitiveness in international markets declines. PTA commitments also add to countries' legal WTO obligations in terms of trade policy, and specifically on the ability of member countries to raise tariffs. While this may be an issue for middle and high income countries, many low income countries have retained large policy space allowing an increase in import protection, both because of large WTO tariff overhang and their limited commitments to PTAs.

International trade is increasingly regulated and influenced by a wide array of policies and instruments reaching beyond tariffs. As of 2013, technical measures and requirements regulate about two-thirds of world trade, while various forms of sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) are applied to almost the totality of agricultural trade. Non-technical measures such as quantity and price measures still affect almost 30 per cent of trade flows, often in economic sectors of importance for developing countries. The past few years have also seen an increase in the use of trade defence measures within the WTO framework.

The economic turbulence of recent years has been reflected in exchange rate markets, both for developing and developed countries’ currencies. Exchange rate movements and volatility have played an important role in shaping international trade in the post crisis period, as they have influenced countries’ external competitiveness.