OECD researchers found that annual growth in global trade has fallen dramatically from 3.4% before the financial crisis, a catastrophic economic event that marked the end of two decades of rapid expansion.
Since 2011, global trade growth has averaged just 1.3% -- and the volume of trade between nations actually declined in the first quarter of 2016.
"This is well below past norms and implies that globalization as measured by trade intensity may have stalled," the OECD said in a report on the global economy released Wednesday.
By one measure, trade growth has fallen to its lowest level in more than 25 years