TRADE wars have become a reality. The threat of Brexit is having a chilling effect in Europe. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations are unlikely to be concluded this year. And the World Trade Organisation (WTO) system moves closer to paralysis with the looming collapse of its appeals function and the continuing inability of its members to make progress in multilateral negotiations.

There is little to offset this gloomy panorama. The EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is significant, but its implementation is threatened by political strife over the Amazon. The US-Japan deal is less substantial than the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), now transformed into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on TPP (CPTPP), following the withdrawal of the United States.

And other initiatives in Asia and Africa are a long way from fruition.

… This is why the second Singapore Trade Policy Forum convened by the Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS) at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), with the support of the governments of Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, comes at a crucial moment.

… The writer is adjunct senior fellow at the Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS) in the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, and co-ordinator of the Singapore Trade Policy Forum.