One such example is the Trade Facilitation Agreement, which entered into force on 22 February 2017 after it was ratified by two-thirds of the World Trade Organization’s members.9 Another example is the CETA treaty between the European Union and Canada that is in the process of being ratified and adopted.10 The “one belt, one road” initiative was promoted with much publicity at a summit in Beijing just ten days ago.11 While it remains to be seen whether the proposed project will meet European standards of fairness and transparency, it clearly shows that enthusiasm for international trade is far from dead.
On the Role of the Business Cycle and Macroeconomic Policies”, IMF Working Paper, No. 16/62, March 2016, and “Public investment in Europe”, ECB Economic Bulletin, Issue 2, 2016, forthcoming. [10] Funke, M., M. Schularick and C. Trebesch (2015) “Going to extremes: Politics after financial crises, 1870–2014”,  CEPR, Discussion Paper No. 10884.