Dhaka, Jan. 26 -- Policy responses to the Covid-19 pandemic have heavily disrupted trade and supply chains, with many countries putting in place ad hoc trade-restrictive measures, seemingly without any concern about their effect on trading partners - at least during the early stages of the crisis.

While such reactions to an unexpected global pandemic are understandable, they are certainly not optimal. They have highlighted the limitations of existing trade agreements, including over 184 regional trade agreements signed by economies in Asia and the Pacific, as well as the multilateral trade rules, in providing guidance on how to respond to emergency or crisis situations in a least trade-restrictive fashion.

Against this backdrop, in an e...