A trade accord that will boost global exports by $1 trillion is expected to come into force in the next two weeks, the head of the World Trade Organization said on Thursday, despite concerns over a more protectionist United States under Donald Trump.
The WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which will standardise and simplify customs procedures around the world, needs two more ratifications to legally take effect, WTO chief Roberto Azevedo said, adding that Chad, Jordan and Kuwait were all poised to ratify it.
"In the WTO's history, it is the biggest agreement we ever reached," Azevedo told Reuters in an interview.
"There are estimates that once fully implemented, this could have an impact of around 2.7 percentage points on trade expansion throughout the world every year until say 2030, and half a percentage point of GDP growth around the world."
Three-quarters of the estimated $1 trillion boost to world exports is expected to be in developing countries, especially for small firms which are stymied by red tape, corruption and border delays.
The United States, where Trump took office last Friday after fighting an election campaign on promises of protecting US industry, has already ratified the TFA. Other major global economies including China, Japan and the EU have also ratified.
"If it's truly implemented and done well, there will be almost no contact between the client and the (customs) authority," Azevedo said. "When that happens the room for corruption basically disappears. And we know that at the border, corruption is a problem for many countries."
Where a product may previously have taken 6-7 weeks to arrive, the waiting time should be cut to a few days.
"Things are going to cross the border much more easily, much more transparently and at lower costs," Azevedo said.
Asked if the deal was the high point of global trade liberalisation, the veteran Brazilian trade negotiator said there was still a "rich agenda" of potential trade reforms.
Azevedo said it was too early to tell whether the new US administration would be on board with those reforms, adding that much of what was being said about Trump's plans for trade was speculation inferred from his previous comments.
"A lot of concerns I've heard in recent political debates in the United States can be addressed by tools that we have here in the WTO," he added.