World Perspectives

Drab WTO Reforms; Precaution or Patents

Drab WTO Reforms The U.S. has motivated other major WTO members to seek reforms for the organization, and the latest list of proposals reveals how moribund the institution can look from the outside. The U.S. proposed the most basic expectation by members – transparency. Now the EU, China and nine other members have proposed such basic bureaucratic functions as documenting trade issues that arise in committee meetings, formalizing their handling (advance notice, query and response, etc.) and, ultimately, having an informal discussion about resolving them. Developing countries typically have one excuse for noncompliance with procedural requirements, and that is a lack of resources. The proponents of reform recommend these countries si...

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WPI Crop Progress and Conditions App (Updated 28 April)

Update for 28 April 2025: Last year, users pointed out differences between the 5-year averages reported in this app and what USDA estimates in its weekly report. The difference exists because WPI calculates average based on the last 5 years of observations for the current week. In cases where o...

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From WPI Consulting

Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming

WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.

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