WTO Releases Papers on COVID-19 Vaccine Input Tariffs, Pandemic-Related Trade Bottlenecks

The World Trade Organization published two information notes Oct. 8, with one relating to COVID-19 vaccine production and tariffs on vaccine inputs, the other on trade-related bottlenecks on critical products to fight COVID-19. The first report, based on the Joint Indicative List of Critical COVID-19 Vaccine Inputs for Consultation, looks into the most favored nation tariffs and imports of these goods by the top 27 vaccine manufacturing countries to identify any chokepoints. The report found that critical product tariffs remain high, especially in certain developing companies, the WTO said.

The second paper updated a previous list of trade-related bottlenecks for COVID-19 products after taking stakeholder comments and suggestions into account. “One common theme that emerges in this update is that essential goods and inputs need to flow efficiently and expeditiously to support the rapid scaling up of COVID-19 production capacity worldwide,” the WTO said. “As manufacturers scale up production and establish new sites in different countries, the production network is not only becoming larger but also increasingly complex and international. The delay of a single component may significantly slow down or even bring vaccine manufacturing to a halt, so it follows that inputs need to flow expeditiously, and each node within the supply chain network needs to operate seamlessly with the others.”