The BRICS Trade and Investment Ministers met in Jaipur, India around August 7-8 with Indonesia's Trade Minister Budi Santoso calling for a rules-based trading system to strengthen micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, urging BRICS members to deepen cooperation on supply chains and digital trade, and backing reforms to keep the World Trade Organization central; Indonesia endorsed the meeting's outcome document on behalf of the bloc
The Geneva-based intergovernmental body that governs trade rules for 166 member governments, under strain from a US-blocked appellate system and US budget arrears as of mid-2026.
full dossier ›The US on July 24 imposed new import duties of 10% or 12.5% on goods from 60 trading partners, including China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the EU and Thailand, citing those countries' failure to enforce bans on goods made with forced labor. A presidential memorandum signed July 23 invoked Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, replacing a prior tariff layer that expired at midnight.
The new 301-style investigation piles on top of the 30% baseline tariffs agreed in the June 11 deal and introduces a human-rights-based trade mechanism that Brussels and Ottawa find difficult to oppose
The AU's single-market framework spanning 54 African countries, 1.4 billion people and a combined GDP of US$3.4 trillion, with trading operational since January 2021.
The European Union and China's €730 billion annual goods trade relationship, contested on electric vehicles, rare earths, and strategic supply chains as both sides de-risk without decoupling.
Asia-Pacific trade pact linking 15 nations, including China, Japan and South Korea in the same bloc for the first time, covering roughly 30 percent of global GDP.
The WTO and four regional trade blocs together write the rules for goods, services, and investment across most of world trade, from the Pacific to sub-Saharan Africa.
The United States and China's bilateral trade relationship totaled over US$650 billion in goods and services in 2024, making it the highest-stakes commercial axis in global great-power competition.
The world's largest bilateral trade corridor linking the US and European Union, with over US$1 trillion in annual goods trade and a history of repeated tariff disputes.