International trade in the late 1990s and early 2000s was on a substantial rise before a sharp fall after the economic crisis in 2007. Trade had experienced a boom accompanied by a rise in commodity prices (Alessandria et al., 2010) . However, trade was weakened by the crisis in 2007, although it renounced in 2010 and 2011. Since then, it has been below the level recorded before the problem; however, recent years have seen a moderate recovery. The collapse in world trade was synchronized across regions and countries (Alessandria et al., 2010) . The paper examines current trends in international trade, changes since the crisis, factors shaping the recent trends, the role of WTO in new globalized settings, and the overshooting of trade elasticity during the financial collapse.
Recent Trends in International Trade
Recent survey-based data has shown a slowdown in cross border trade growth, affecting the pace at which global trade is recovering. The occurence has impacted the exchange of goods and services. Centraal Planbureau, a bureau for economic policy analysis, posited that the global purchasing managers' index used to access international trade development has changed (Ellana, 2020) . However, global trade has remained above the contraction/ expansion threshold of 50; this suggests that international trade has continued to grow, although at subduing rate than the beginning of the year.
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Additionally, governments are taking measures to phase out policies that were put in place to help international trade recover from the financial crisis of 2007 and are now embarking on the process of fiscal consolidation (Kose et al., 2020) . Moreover, during the crisis, inventory dynamics magnified the upturn and the downturn in international trade. More recently, inventories are beginning to approach the historical average, which was recorded before the crisis; this implies that restocking will soon have a less pronounced effect on international trade.
There is an increase in non-tradable goods in relevance to demanded durable goods and spend on services; this will hurt global trade. However, global trade is likely to have an outpace growth in economic activities as economies continue to interact in the broader global economy. However, there is little evidence that the financial crisis has played a big part in hindering trade integration (Kose et al., 2020) .
Underlying factors for shaping recent trends
Governments
In all economies in the world, the government holds much sway over the issues involving free trade. Through monetary and fiscal policies, governments and central banks can control and monitor financial markets, which profoundly affects the marketplace. When the government increases or decreases the interest rates, it affects the quality at which a country's economy grows. Via fiscal policies, the government eases unemployment and, in a way, stabilizes the prices of merchandise and services (Alessandria et al., 2010) . Additionally, by altering interest rates, governments can control the amount of money in circulation within the open market, affecting how investments flow in and out of the country.
Speculation and Expectation
In trade, expectations and speculation are an integral part of the financial systems. When investors, consumers, and politicians have different views on where the economy should go in the future, it affects how they act and the measures they take today. Therefore, expectations create a dependency of future trends on current trends. Furthermore, sentiment indicators can gauge how different groups feel about their economy; therefore, analyzing these indicators creates an expectation or bias, shaping recent global trade trends (Tang, 2014) .
International transactions
The economy of a country is greatly affected by how funds flow in and out of the country. The more money flows out than cash flowing in, the weaker the economy gets and their currency. Most economies embrace ways to create more exports, whether services or goods, to help build their economy, affecting long-term trends.
Supply and demand
Push-pull dynamics in the economy are created when there are supply and demand for services, products, and currencies. Therefore, in any economy, the rates and prices change depending on demand and supply. These factors create both long-term and short-term fluctuation in the global markets. Therefore, the government's mandates affect international transactions, making recent trends (Alessandria et al., 2010) .
Role of WTO in the new globalized setting
World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international institution created in 1995 when most trading nations signed an agreement to oversee international trade rules among nations. It has 164 members (BA, 2015) . The primary purpose is to help traders of merchandise and services manage and protect their businesses, thus providing open communication lines involving its members. However, WTO has fueled globalization with both negative and positive effects. Therefore it is essential to understand the role WTO plays in the new globalization setting.
WTO provides a platform for the member countries to negotiate and resolve trade-related disputes; thus, it is a crucial meditation entity responsible for upholding trade rules among nations. The WTO has the power to lower barriers, thus boosting trade among its members. However, WTO evaluates the need for a barrier and upholds trade barriers if it benefits the global market. Therefore it monitors and maintains policies that benefit the global economy. Additionally, WTO offers to interpret the agreements to resolve trade disputes that arise among nations. The organization must conduct settlement of conflicts within a legally neutral resolution process.
The WHO contributes uniquely by stabilizing the global economy; when settling disputes. It solves disputes by having a rules-based system, which it enforces, making it practical, making trade predictable and secure. The method of rules relies on clearly-defined rules that also have a timeframe for completing any case. The rules are made by a panel and then endorsed by members (BA, 2015) . However, the organization avoids the concept of passing judgment and prioritizes the idea of settling the dispute. Therefore, disagreements are viewed as broken promises, and if a member violates trade rules, they use a multilateral system to resolve the conflict rather than taking actions unilaterally. Much of the procedures of solving disputes prefer involved parties discussing their problems and settling the dispute among them.
Overshooting of trade elasticity
The dynamics of trade in 2007 -2009 were striking, and this stimulated empirical and theoretical analysis. The essential explanations as to why business had collapsed are explained as the drying up of trade finance, the role of imported intermediate goods, inventory adjustments, and compositional effects along non-durable/ durable goods dimension (Meagher, 2015) . However, it is essential to look at the demand for empirical trade equations. An empirical observation during the crisis avered that the import content of government spending was lower than the private consumption, which is also lower than exports and investment. Another notable factor is that GDP falls during recessions, but its components don't necessarily reduce by the same magnitude. The recession was global as most countries' imports fell, followed by exports. Therefore, it is essential to note that demand crashes globally and this affects trade, particularly import-intensive components.
The impact on GDP growth was noticeable during the crisis for both high-income counties and lower-income countries. For example, where most counties are developing, Africa suffered significantly compared to the USA. The GDP drop was severe in an environment with no social safety nets to handle a crisis. Additionally, a large count balance creates a vulnerability to crisis transmission. It was more so in the developing counties as compared to the USA. Most developing countries were affected by inflation; this left most developing counties in a lousy position to finance their development projects (Meagher, 2015) . Thus, making them more vulnerable to financial and crisis, and this makes IMF intervention less likely. Additionally, developed counties like the USA were affected, so that it had to reduce the number of funds they aid to the IMF (Kose et al., 2020) . Furthermore, counties like China were not much affected through the financial channels but more in the real economy (Tang, 2014) . However, this was not the case for African counties as they experienced both financial and economic challenges.
Conclusion
International trade can create an economic shift. Since the financial crisis, recessions have a little outlook on international trade. Despite the decrease in world trade, there was a minimum downside risk. Therefore, adverse developments in the financial market could cause a prolonged crisis. Trade is an essential part of the development of the global economy, which can significantly reduce poverty. Therefore it is necessary to maintain the access developing counties have on the international markets. Additionally, it is crucial to ensure that developing countries have access to aids.
References
Alessandria, G., Kaboski, J., & Midrigan, V. (2010). The Great Trade Collapse of 2008-2009: An Inventory Adjustment?. SSRN Electronic Journal , 254 -94. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.1610270.
BA, I. (2015). Is Role of WTO Shrinking?. Business And Economics Journal , 7 (2). doi: 10.4172/2151-6219.1000219.
Ellana, M. (2020). GLOBAL TRENDS OF WORD MERCHANDISE TRADE. Foreign Trade: Economics, Finance, Law , 111 (4), 23-34. doi: 10.31617/zt.knute.2020(111)02
Kose, M., Sugawara, N., & Terrones, M. (2020). Global Recessions. SSRN Electronic Journal . doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3535972.
Meagher, N. (2015). Representing Developing Countries Before the WTO: The Role of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL). SSRN Electronic Journal . doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2632006.
Tang, H. (2014). World Trade Report 2013 – Factors Shaping the Future of World TradeWorld Trade Organization, 2013. World Trade Review , 13 (4), 733-735. doi: 10.1017/s1474745614000275.
