Book excerpt: This volume examines the critical issues facing the global trading system today. As the title suggests, Trends in World Trade honors one of the world's great trade policy experts -- Sylvia Ostry. Sylvia is recognized as one of the quintessential trade and investment experts whose career spans public and academic service in Canada. The issues addressed represent central questions in the development of the international economy. This book covers, among other things, institutional concerns such as the adequacy of World Trade Organization governance and its growing judicialization. Trends in World Trade examines the consequences for the global economy of China's admittance to the WTO. It also examines the consequences of continuing system friction -- one of Sylvia Ostry's many contributions to our understanding of global trade relations. The contributors tackle global trade challenges from transparency to the matter of coherence, and from agricultural subsidies to the challenges of global investment. This volume also looks at the impact of international trade, finance and investment on states and their societies. Students of trade, trade experts, practitioners, and trade officials will find this volume a must-read for a better understanding of the trends in the global trade regime. This book is part of the Studies on Globalization and Society Series, edited by Raj Bhala, Rice Distinguished Professor, The University of Kansas School of Law.