Transparency, one of the fundamental norms of the trading system, is increasingly seen as an essential tool in the governance of international trade. Enhanced monitoring and surveillance of emergency measures was central to the international effort to mitigate the effects of the financial crisis that began in 2008. This paper develops a new analytic framework for thinking about WTO transparency provisions. We apply this framework to a detailed case study of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, and then compare this experience to other domains within the WTO. We show that the WTO's windows on the trading system are cloudier than they ought to be. We conclude with some recommendations for improving WTO transparency tools.

Central bank intervention in foreign exchange markets may, under some conditions, stimulate exports and retard imports. In the past few years, this issue has moved to center stage because of the foreign exchange policies of China. Numerous public officials and commentators argue that China has engaged in impermissible ‘currency manipulation’, and various proposals for stiff action against China have been advanced. This paper considers the relationship between exchange rate policy and international trade, and addresses the questions of whether and how currency manipulation should be addressed by the international trading system. Our conclusions are at odds with much of what is currently being said by proponents of multilateral or unilateral actions against China. In particular, we question whether China's practices can be adjudicated to be ‘manipulation’ under international law, and doubt that their trade effects can be identified with the degree of confidence necessary to ascertain whether the practices ‘frustrate the intent’ of WTO/GATT commitments. The difficulty of identifying the trade effects of currency practices undermines the ability of the WTO dispute resolution system to address them, and calls into question the wisdom and legitimacy of unilateral countermeasures that have been proposed in various quarters.

The negotiations under the aegis of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the creation of rules on domestic regulations affecting trade in services have entered a critical stage. Within a general atmosphere of reflection and reluctance characterizing the Doha negotiations, this is the only front in recent years in which tangible progress is evident. This paper critically analyses the potential rules that Members currently appear to support and attempts to identify their shortcomings as well as those modifications or clarifications which are necessary to improve the impact and efficacy of the forthcoming rules (so-called ‘disciplines on domestic regulation’ in the parlance used in the General Agreement on Trade in Services – GATS). At the heart of the paper lies a thought-provoking proposal for a necessity test applicable across services sectors. Arguably, only a necessity test can allow for the elimination of unnecessary barriers to trade in services and regulatory arbitrariness.