COVID-19 trade policy database: food and medical products

Many governments actively used trade policy as an instrument to enhance the availability of personal protective equipment, medical supplies, and food products during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some governments decided to requisition all stocks or to control – or ban – esports of these products; others removed or reduced import tariffs and taxes. Tracking these changes is of paramount importance for assessing their effectiveness, and potential international spillover effects—particularly on countries that depend on imports of these key products.

To this end, the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies’ Global Governance Programme at the European University Institute, the University of St. Gallen’s Global Trade Alert initiative, and the Trade and Regional Integration Unit of the World Bank Group have joined forces in an international collaboration that documents the use of trade policies affecting these products across the world. This initiative tracks policy changes across countries over time, gathers information from official sources, media reports, and other public sources and provides weekly updates in an online Trade Policy Database.