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Impact of Global Trade Relations on International Development

Impact of Global Trade Relations on International Development

November 4, 2025

Berlin

Recent changes in U.S. tariffs policy have triggered new uncertainties and shifts in global trade relations. These changes directly impact the future and strategic course of international development cooperation. Pinelopi K. Goldberg, former Chief Economist of the World Bank and currently teaching at Yale University, has spent her research and professional career exploring the intersections between trade and international development.

The final report of our Commission, “A Changing World – Germany and the Global South,” highlights that development policy can be a valuable tool in times of geopolitical conflict. The recommendations suggest that Germany, as one of the world’s largest export and trading nations, uses its development policy as a strategic instrument in times of geopolitical tension to create a sustainable future.

Based on Goldberg’s latest analyses on the impact of global trade on international development, we further discussed the recommendations of the Commission together with partners from politics, academia, business and civil society. Together, we examined how international development policy must be realigned to address these current changes.

The objective is not just growth. It's better living standards. And for that, it really matters how growth is distributed and who benefits from it.
Pinelopi K. Goldberg
William Nordhaus Professor of Economics and Global Affairs, Yale University

Contact Persons

Gregor Darmer, g.darmer@globalperspectives.org

Supported by

One

Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB)

WZB Berlin Social Science Center

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