Vers une politique commerciale multifonctionnelle ?

The author argues that international trade policy is shifting from a focus on economic efficiency and liberalization toward a 'multifunctional' approach. This new paradigm integrates goals such as climate action, labor rights, and national security as primary objectives rather than externalities. The transition faces national challenges, including the need to balance incommensurable goals and break institutional silos, and international challenges, such as friction with existing WTO rules and a growing divide between developed and developing nations' priorities.

• Multifunctional trade policy represents a paradigm shift where trade is no longer just about the efficient international division of labor through liberalization, but is instead tasked with achieving goals like strengthening workers' rights, fighting inequality, creating resilient supply chains, safeguarding national security, and mitigating the climate crisis.
• The transition is driven by a crisis in globalization, where the traditional view of free trade as an inevitable force for good is challenged by concerns over job losses, increasing inequality, economic interdependence risks (highlighted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine), supply chain fragility (exposed by COVID-19), and climate collapse.
• Major developed economies are already implementing this approach: the US is focusing on 'resilience', 'inclusion', and 'sustainability' through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity and national security considerations regarding China, while the EU is utilizing tools like the carbon border adjustment mechanism.
• The World Trade Organization (WTO) is reflecting this shift through the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, which is the first WTO agreement primarily targeting a sustainability goal, and an increased focus on food security.
• National implementation faces four primary challenges: reconciling incommensurable goals (e.g., balancing economic efficiency against climate goals), breaking expertise silos between government departments, identifying the most effective instruments (e.g., whether import bans are the best tool for forced labor), and determining decision-making authority.
• There is a growing tension between multifunctional trade policies and international trade law, as states increasingly adopt a 'whatever it takes' approach to political problems, leading to a decline in the centrality of WTO rules and an increase in unilateral or mini-lateral actions.
• A divide persists between developed and developing nations; the latter are skeptical of labor standards used as trade tools and fear that new objectives are pretexts for protectionism, though they argue that multifunctional goals like food security and development have always been their priority.

APA

Lamp, N. (n.d.). Vers une politique commerciale multifonctionnelle ? International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/fr/node/17102

Chicago

Lamp, Nicolas. Vers une politique commerciale multifonctionnelle ? International Institute for Sustainable Development, n.d. https://www.iisd.org/fr/node/17102.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lamp |first1=Nicolas |title=Vers une politique commerciale multifonctionnelle ? |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |url=https://www.iisd.org/fr/node/17102 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lampndvers, author = {Lamp, Nicolas}, title = {{Vers une politique commerciale multifonctionnelle ?}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/fr/node/17102}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }