Documentos

The COVID-19 global health crisis has had a profound impact on people's health and livelihoods,
with the relaxation of COVID related restrictions largely dependent on a number of unpredictable
factors, such as rising “vaccine nationalism”, which continues to undermine multilateral efforts to
ensure equitable access to vaccines. As governments seek to chart a course to prosperity, free
flowing global trade, that ensures equitable growth, will be more important than ever.
The downturn in world trade and the global economy has been a major side effect of the pandemic,
with effects on governmental trade policies especially severe. Many reports have catalogued the
variety of trade related barriers that countries have imposed to deal with COVID-19. The Global
Trade Alert found hundreds of tariff and non-tariff barriers enacted since the outbreak, frequently in
the form of import licensing requirements or outright bans on exports of medical goods, medicines, as well as agricultural and food products.