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Definition: A system that governs the cross-border sale of goods and services.
Trade and investment are powerful engines that drive economic growth and reduce poverty. The experience of past decades has confirmed that these benefits can be realized when countries open themselves up to investment and trade with the rest of the world. Transitioning economies, however, face the multi-faceted challenge of removing or reducing trade restraints and improving the legal and institutional environment for trade. 
On the one hand, reform involves accession to and compliance with international or regional trade agreements that reduce tariffs, address other trade barriers, and consolidate markets. Legal and institutional support for trade capacity building in areas such as World Trade Organization (WTO) awareness, accession, and compliance, and the strengthening of a country’s ability to participate in trade negotiations, implement trade agreements, and respond to opportunities for trade, is critical to countries’ abilities to reap the benefits of international trade.
On the other hand, international trade reform also involves many aspects of domestic law reform and institutional capacity building that directly or indirectly affect a country's ability to compete in the global marketplace. Trade capacity-building assistance must address the details of establishing and enforcing trading relationships. A sound domestic legal environment should facilitate: 1) the making of an agreement for either the sale of goods or the sale of services, 2) the obligations of performance, including delivery and transportation, 3) the mechanisms and guarantees of payment, and 4) the allocation of risk, including insurance.
The domestic legal and regulatory environment must also enable parties to enforce their international contracts. The weakness of domestic court systems in developing countries generally precludes their involvement in rendering judgments on disputes. Instead, international trading partners often designate specific forums for conflict resolution. Execution of a foreign court decision or an arbitration reward depends on the effectiveness of local courts. When the local courts of a country are not able to enforce such judgments against local defendants, international traders are less likely to engage in trade with that country.
The scope and number of laws that are implicated by International Trade law and policy are vast. A few principle examples include:
- Trade in Goods
- Convention for the International Sales of Goods
- Laws pertaining to Exports and the Prevention of unfair competition
- Agriculture
- Information technology products
- Market access for goods
- Sanitary and phytosanitary measures
- Rules of Origin
- Intellectual Property
- Trade in Services
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