Trade and Development Report 2025 : On the Brink: Trade, Finance and Global Uncertainty

An annual review examines dynamic shifts in global trade as supply chains adapt amid tariff hikes and geopolitical tensions. It highlights how concentrated finance and evolving trade practices shape policies and impact developing nations by affecting access to emerging opportunities in an increasingly intertwined global economy.

The Trade and Development Report (TDR), launched in 1981, is issued every year for the annual session of the Trade and Development Board. The Report analyses current economic trends and major policy issues of international concern, and makes suggestions for addressing these issues at various levels. On the surface, global trade looks resilient. Goods are moving, supply chains are adapting, and trade grew about 4% in early 2025 – even amid tariff hikes and geopolitical tensions. Over 90% of world trade now depends on trade finance. This means that banks, platforms that clear transactions and complex financial instruments like derivatives determine who can trade, on what terms and at what cost. Yet unlike trade, global finance remains highly concentrated – leaving much of the global South on the margins. The Trade and Development Report 2025 reveals how the tightening link between trade and finance is reshaping global opportunities – and why the stakes are greatest for developing countries.