Trade in services: towards a plurilateral agreement

Briefing 17-07-2013

Businesses across the world are increasingly interdependent, in so-called "global value chains". As the largest exporter of services in the world the EU has a strong interest in the liberalisation of services. In the light of stagnation in the Doha Round of trade talks, a separate international agreement on trade in services is seen as a way to increase efficiencies in production carried out around the globe. Some 20 countries, led by the United States, the EU and Japan, have recently begun negotiating such an agreement on a plurilateral basis, bringing together some but not all WTO members.