Posts tagged…Trade Framework
ACTA is an attack on the WTO
Wed, Jun 16 2010India has complained in the recent TRIPS council that the ACTA provisions modify the balance of rights and obligations established by a multilateral agreement (TRIPS) covering the same domain. The secret negotiation of this plurilateral agreement by a cabal that included Australia is an attack on that balance and hence on one of the pillars of WTO.
"Countries excluded from the ACTA process have…
Read more…Schubert and the GATT
Thu, Apr 15 2010From a 1984 speech to the Confederation of British Industry by Hugh Corbet, then Director of the London-based Trade Policy Research Centre.
The situation* puts one in mind of the report prepared by a well-known firm of management consultants commissioned to advise on the commercial difficulties of a famous symphony orchestra. Part of the report that was prepared dealt with a concert performance…
Rotten ideas about the renminbi
Thu, Mar 18 2010The prospect of a U.S.-China clash over currency controls next month when the U.S. Treasury Secretary is supposed to pronounce on China's 'currency manipulation' has prompted hyperbolic fears (Martin Wolf, in the FT says he "wonders whether the open global economy is going to survive..."!) and at least two feeble plans.
One is from the IMF, which wants a new mandate—although it admits that's not…
Are the BRICS ready to lead?
Wed, Jan 20 2010
Reflecting on the greater influence of the BRICS, recently, in global forums, the always-interesting Alan Beattie asks:
"Is this a pivot point such as the second world war, where the confident, innovative US muscled aside the weakened, debt-laden economies of Europe and remade the global financial architecture? " Extract from FT.com
His guess? "No, not yet". He points out the BRICS are…
U.S. looks for a ‘critical mass’ climate deal
Fri, Jan 15 2010There is absolutely nothing new in U.S. exasperation with the United Nations and its overblown processes. This statement from the deputy U.S. climate envoy recalls the responses of thousands of technocrats exposed for the first time to the diplomatic morass; for decades, we've heard something similar from every new Administration.
"Pershing said the flaws in the UN process, which demands…
Elaborating the Ag. travesty
Thu, Jan 14 2010It is difficult to believe that the complex, weak, confusing, rent-preserving, ponderous white-elephant being proposed for an agreement on agriculture in the WTO Doha negotiations could be more bloated or further compromised…but that's exactly what seems to be happening.
According to a report* from ITCSD, developing countries and the EU want to further slow the pace of change where opening…
Lamy’s assessment of Copenhagen
Thu, Jan 14 2010It's called whistling in the wind.
"The outcome of the conference in Copenhagen represents a step forward. The Kyoto Protocol addresses about 30% of global carbon emissions. In contrast, the framework accord hammered out in Copenhagen last week may encompass the majority of world emissions. " Extract from WTO | 2009 News items - Lamy praises Copenhagen efforts, calls for more to be done
The…
Multilateralism not a ‘single undertaking’
Wed, Jan 06 2010More commentary—this time from the President of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations—on the significance of the Copenhagen meeting as one of the first signs of whatever-it-turns-out-to-be that follows the pax atlantica
"Multilateralism in the 21st century is, like the century itself, likely to be more fluid and, at times, messy than what we are used to." Extract from Richard Haass in the Cheering for ‘democracy’ Tue, Jan 05 2010
Rachman—who's normally pretty astute—assesses the emblematic events in Copenhagen as a blow to the U.S. program of 'spreading democracy'.
"As emerging global powers and developing nations, Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey may often feel they have more in common with a rising China than with the democratic US." Extract from Gideon Rachman in the Financial TimesAlthough I share his sense…
How the deal was done
Mon, Dec 28 2009
Official Chinese account of the negotiation of the accord at Copenhagen, emphasising, of course, their own role:
The Copenhagen conference has put China on a higher and broader world stage. China has reason to be proud and China will work even harder! Verdant mountains cannot stop water flowing; eastward the water keeps on going.The report provides a detailed account of Premier Wen's movements…
Global governance in the aughties
Sun, Dec 27 2009
First, bodice-ripping as political theory
"We live in an era in which unprecedented globalization and economic interdependence, liberal-democratic hegemony, nanotechnology, robotic warfare, the 'infosphere,' nuclear proliferation and geoengineering solutions to climate change coexist with the return of powerful autocratic-capitalist states, of a new Great Game in Central Asia, of imperialism in…Plurilateralism… get used to it
Sun, Dec 20 2009
Unless you've been asleep since the mid-1930s (when the League of Nations fell apart), the failures of the UN Climate Convention in Copenhagen or the World Trade Organization in Geneva to reach agreement should come as no surprise.
It's not the end of the world (or even of multilateralism) but it's an historic moment, all the same. I suspect it marks the iconic end of the pax atlantica; the…
