Trade Facilitation

Economics

The simplification, standardisation, and harmonisation of international trade procedures.

Sources

1. World Trade Organization — Trade facilitation wto.org accessed 23 September 2026

The WTO describes trade facilitation as “the simplification, modernization and harmonization of export and import processes”. Its Trade Facilitation Agreement “entered into force on 22 February 2017 after two-thirds of the WTO membership completed their domestic ratification process”, and provides for “expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit”, for cooperation between customs and other authorities, and for “technical assistance and capacity building in this area”. That last limb is what makes the TFA unusual: obligations are tied to each developing member’s own implementation schedule rather than applying to all at once.

The WTO’s own explanatory page, not the agreement text — wto.org’s treaty PDFs are closed to automated retrieval, so no article is quoted.

Related terms

• Balance of Payments
• Credit Rating
• Current Account Deficit
• EURIBOR
• Exchange Rate
• Foreign Direct Investment

From the AJG lexicon archive (July 2026).