A. International Trade issues
(Most links and abstracts courtesy of Mme Sylvie Vacheret, Public Affairs, American Embassy).
1. Globalisation Protectionism and Free Trade (World Beater; the Tricks of the Trade; Globalization, Alas, Is About More Than Tariffs)
Robert L. Thompson
Globalization and the Benefits of Trade
Chicago Fed Letter - March 2007 (Number 236) Essays On Issues 4 pages http://www.chicagofed.org/publications/fedletter/cflmarch2007_236.pdf
Globalization involves increasing integration of economies around the world, from the national to the most local levels, thereby promoting international trade in goods and services and cross-border movement of information, technology, people, and investments. This article examines the benefits and costs to the U.S. and other countries.
Jeff Faux
Globalization That Works for Working Americans
Economic Policy Institute - Briefing Paper - January 11, 2007 22 pages
http://www.sharedprosperity.org/bp179/bp179.pdf
The author advocates for better management of globalization through better international trade and investment agreements and policies. The author states that the present system rewards those at the top of the income ladder while working families suffer from stagnant wages and benefits. He further writes that over the last two decades, the mismanagement of trade policies has damaged the U.S.'s competitiveness and has caused trade deficits to soar. The paper offers a new, comprehensive strategy to change these imbalances.
The Benefits of Liberalising Product Markets and Reducing Barriers to International Trade and Investment: The Case of the US and the EU
OECD, working paper, June 7, 2005
http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2005doc.nsf/linkto/ECO-WKP(2005)19
The OECD report "sheds new light on the mutual benefits to greater liberalization and deregulation in the transatlantic economic relationship. The study concludes that reducing State control on the business environment, cutting tariff barriers and easing restrictions on foreign direct investment could generate great benefits for the United States, the European Union and all OECD Member Countries.
President William Poole
Free Trade: Why are Economists and Noneconomists So Far Apart?
FRB St. Louis. June 15, 2004.
http://www.stlouisfed.org/news/speeches/2004/06_15_04.html
Every trade story requires at least three sections. One reports who gains, one reports who loses and one reports the net of the gains and losses for the country as a whole. There is an enormous opportunity here: Sound and impartial reporting case by case by case will do more, I believe, to promote free-trade policies than all the economists' speeches extolling the benefits of trade laid end to end.
2. WTO issues
(A Guide to GATT; Dangerous Activities; WTO Rules against US on Cotton Subsidies;; The Battle in Seattle; the Cancun Challenge)
The official site of the WTO:
www.wto.org
Robert Z. Lawrence
The United States and the WTO Dispute Settlement System
Council on Foreign Relations Report March 2007 - 56 pages
http://www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/WTO_CSR25.pdf
In this Council Special Report, Professor Lawrence addresses the critics of the dispute settlement mechanismboth those who think it should be tougher on countries that violate trade rules and those who think it is already so tough as to violate sovereignty. He points out the successes of the WTO since its creation in 1995 and argues that radical changes to the system are ill-advised. Lawrence nonetheless suggests several areas for reform, from steps that require multilateral negotiations, such as improving opportunities for nonstate actor participation in and enhancing transparency of the process, to changes the United States could make in its own behavior.
Jeffrey J. Schott
Completing the Doha Round
Peterson Institute for International Economics Policy Brief - October 2006 8 pages
http://www.iie.com/publications/pb/pb06-7.pdf
This policy brief examines the causes of the ongoing negotiating problems and what needs to be done to restart the WTO talks.
- World Trade Organization: Limited Progress at Hong Kong Ministerial Clouds Prospects for Doha Agreement.
GAO-06-596 Report - April 26, 2006 47 pages
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-596
Given the importance of the WTO Doha Round to the United States, GAO was asked to provide an update on the status of the negotiations. In this report, the latest in a series on the negotiations, we (1) provide the status of the Doha negotiations on the eve of the Hong Kong ministerial, (2) review the outcome of the Hong Kong ministerial, and (3) discuss the prospects for concluding the Doha Round before TPA expires in July 2007.
- Susan E. Rice (Foreign Policy Studies) and Gayle E. Smith (Center for American Progress)
WTO Hands a Critical Victory to African Farmers
Yale Global Online, May 21, 2004
http://www.brookings.edu/views/articles/rice/20040521.htm
Africa has secured few victories in the race to gain advantage in the global economy. But a preliminary WTO ruling against US cotton subsidies could signal a shift in the continent's fortunes. The April 27 ruling by a panel of trade judges found in favor of a petition, filed by Brazil, arguing that annual government payments of between $2 and $3 billion to America's cotton farmers constituted a violation of WTO rules governing international trade
If it stands, the WTO's finding would represent both political victory and financial gain for Africa's small farmers.
3. US Trade policy Transatlantic trade relations
2005 Trade Policy Agenda and the 2004 Annual Report of the President on the Trade Agreements Program
The Office Of The United States Trade Representative (USTR) - March 1, 2005 Report - 437 pages
http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Document_Library/Reports_Publications/2005/2005_Trade_Policy_Agenda/asset_upload_file454_7319.pdf
This year's annual report highlights the results of the Administration's ongoing efforts to open new overseas markets, level the playing field for American exporters, and vigorously enforce the trade commitments other countries make to the United States.
- Lael Brainard and Hal Shapiro
Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority: A Primer and a Prescription for Progress
Brookings, Paper, November 7, 2001, 8p
http://www.brookings.edu/views/papers/brainard/20011107.pdf
Fast track has become the Moby Dick of American trade politics. Since it was last in effect, presidents and trade supporters have expended enormous political capital in zealously pursuing the great white whale, and the hunt for this elusive quarry at times has come close to capsizing the ship of American trade policy. But is fast track the prize that its proponents claim it to be? Would its reenactment indeed bridge the chasm on trade? Or is the protracted stalemate a symptom of a more profound divide in American public opinion?
- Johannes F. Linn (Visiting Fellow)
Trends and Prospects of Transatlantic Economic Relations
Brookings, Trans-Atlantic Editors' Roundtable in New York City, April 28, 2004
http://www.freetrade.org/pubs/pas/pas.html
Since 9/11/01, much of the stress in transatlantic relations has centered on disagreements in the foreign and security policy arenas. Previously, however, a number of high-visibility conflicts had appeared in the economic and related areas (trade, finance and environment). This paper looks at the trends and prospects of transatlantic economic relations to determine whether there is a tendency towards increased stress also in this important aspect of the relationship, or whether transatlantic economic ties can be relied upon or reinforced to ensure that the historic partnership does not fall apart.
4. Intellectual Property Rights (Harmonisation of Patent Law;counterfeiting is out of control)
2005 Special 301 Report. [On Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Protection]
Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). April 29, 2005. 65 pages
http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Document_Library/Reports_Publications/2005/2005_Special_301/asset_upload_file195_7636.pdf
This is the annual USTR report on the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection around the world. Despite progress by some countries, the 2005 report finds that weak IPR protection continues to be a serious problem and calls for tough actions to combat global piracy and counterfeiting. Among problems identified in this year's Special 301 Report are piracy of copyrighted works in Ukraine, China, Paraguay, Brazil, Russia, India, Thailand, Bulgaria, Pakistan and other markets and inadequate protection against unfair commercial use for test data submitted by drug companies to health authorities in Israel, Turkey and elsewhere
The report also presents the results of USTR's special Out-of-Cycle Review (OCR) of China's intellectual property regime, and concludes that infringement levels remain unacceptably high throughout China, in spite of Beijing's efforts to reduce them.
76. Regional Trade Agreements NAFTA
(Naftamatics; Report Finds Few Benefits for Mexico in NAFTA)
http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/nafta-alena/sites-e.asp
This Canadian website offers an overview of NAFTA, NAFTA institutions and dispute settlement procedure, as well as links to other NAFTA sites and a selection of articles.
CAFTA Expands on NAFTAs Failures
Moving Ideas, Special Report, posted July, 6 2005
http://www.movingideas.org/content/en/report_content/cafta.htm
The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) extends the policies of NAFTA to six Central American countries. Unfortunately, these policies include the expansion of corporate power, the displacement of family farmers, the privatization of public services, and the undermining of workers' rights, the environment, and public health. -- Links with many websites.
- Ronald A. Wirtz
A. Fork in the Free-Trade Road
FRB Minneapolis The Region September 2004
http://minneapolisfed.org/pubs/region/04-09/wirtz.cfm
Widely considered the captain for global free trade, the United States has taken a significant tactical shift in its trade policy
the United States and most other countries have changed their focus. Rather than continuing to swing for the fences of multilateral free trade, they are hitting singles by entering into so-called regional trade agreements with individual countries
But will regional trade agreements get us to the global holy grail of free trade?
- Michael W. Klein, Scott Schuh, and Robert K. Triest
Job Creation, Job Destruction, and International Competition: Job Flows and Trade The Case of NAFTA
FRB Boston, Working Paper 02-8, June 2003
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/wp/wp2002/wp028.htm
This is a case study of the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the U.S. labor market in three industries: textiles and apparel, chemicals, and automobiles. NAFTA significantly altered the trade environment for these industries and contributed to changes in the bilateral export-import structure among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Our innovation is to examine NAFTA's effect on gross job creation and destruction, the components of change in net employment. Except for a more rapid decline in apparel employment, there is little evidence of NAFTA's having had major effects on either net employment or gross job flows in these industries.
B. The practical aspects of international trade.
On-line resources
- http://www.export.gov
This "basic guide" to exporting, published by the US Department of Commerce provides export advice to exporters and potential exporters. It covers the issues discussed in the course, market exploration, channels of distribution, product adaptation, methods of payment, shipping...and much more!
- http://new.overseas-trade.co.uk (UK Trade and investment)
Exporting for beginners is is an on-line government resource for British companies that have just started out exporting or that are considering exporting in the future.
