Posts tagged…Trade Framework
A Critical Mass Agreement on cereals trade
Wed, Jun 17 2009
In this post I'll describe the simulated impacts of a Critical Mass (CM) trade liberalization agreement on global trade in cereals. This is the second of five posts about some simulations I've created to investigate whether CM agreements could be an alternative to the standard WTO approach to opening up world markets for agriculture.
The bottom line: an improvement in global welfare of between…
Read more…Modeling ‘critical mass’ trade agreements
Mon, Jun 15 2009
In the past couple of weeks, I've been modeling the economic impacts of an alternative way to open up world agricultural markets using 'critical mass' trade agreements.
I thought I would share some of the results of the modeling with you, here on my website, over the next couple of weeks.
The simulations run inside the trade model suggest that there would be huge wins from adopting a new, more…
What if WTO forgot about the rules?
Thu, May 14 2009If you can't agree on what to do, then don't agree. Just, um… do it™.
This—believe it or not— is the latest idea from the bored squad of WTO delegates who find themselves with nothing much to negotiate while trade is in an unprecedented slump and the Doha Round lies on a slab in the cool room.
Their thinking—which they tested with new US Trade Representative Ron Kirk during his recent visit to…
Summary of the copyright trade agreement
Wed, Apr 08 2009The participants in the proposed Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)—one of the few plurilateral (non-regional) trade agreements ever negotiated outside the multilateral trade framework of GATT and WTO—have lifted the veil of secrecy surrounding their negotiations just a little by publishing a "Summary of key elements under discussion".
Although apparently intended to calm civil-liberties…
Trade agreements and trade policy
Tue, Feb 03 2009Yesterday, I noted that for all the changes that have taken place in the trading system since the world last faced such a dramatic downturn in trade and production, there remains one question now that is more or less the same as the questions posed in the 1930s:
"… will trade agreements help to forestall these policy mistakes and encourage collaborative solutions? Or does our experience of the…
A better way ahead for WTO
Thu, Dec 18 2008"As we have argued before, governments need to look for other options such as smaller, more manageable standalone multilateral deals." extract from: FT Editorial - The broken promise of DohaA 'smaller, stand-alone' deal is almost certain to lead to a plurilateral agreement among a sub-set of WTO's 153 members because it will probably not offer sufficient gain to all of them. But that's OK in my…
A better way to negotiate on agriculture
Thu, Dec 04 2008Next week, at the Institute for International Trade in Adelaide, Andrew Stoler (Institute Director, former Deputy Director-General of WTO) and I are presenting a conference in our project on future frameworks for WTO agriculture agreements.
In addition to our own research (some linked here) we've commissioned the help of leading agriculture and trade policy research centers in Brazil, China,…
The WTO’s objectives
Wed, Nov 26 2008On 11-12 December, the Institute for International Trade will host a conference that Andrew Stoler (its Director) and I have arranged as part of our year-long research project to find a better way to negotiate WTO agriculture agreements.
In a paper he has prepared for the conference on 'Variable Geometries', Professor Peter LLoyd of Melbourne University poses a question about WTO's objectives.…
A modest proposal for the ‘G-20’ summit
Sun, Nov 09 2008
The IMF's Managing Director should not try to talk down expectations for next weekend's summit. We deserve much more from these leaders that, so far, have done little to match their promises of reform of global governance over the past decade.
The G-20's role should be to set up the best conditions for a recovery in real markets, not just in financial markets. But, on their past behavior, it is…
Differences over the ‘revival’ of WTO negotiations
Thu, Aug 14 2008While Pascal Lamy, the WTO Director General, rushes around the world trying to revive an agreement he claims was 'almost done' and within Members' grasp, the Chairman of the Agriculture negotiating group Crawford Falconer—who has been through the mangle trying to squeeze consensus out of the Members over two years—has a more skeptical assessment of the chances of 'revival'.
"Overall, there was a…
Doha defeated by contrary goals, rear-view mandate
Sat, Aug 02 2008Joseph Francois argues the Doha Round was strangled by an outdated agenda and unworkable principles, including the MFN rule. We're better-off burying our mistakes, he argues, and moving on.
"In a sense, developing countries are collectively asking that food prices go up and down at the same time. The inconsistency reflects divergent interests across the newer, non-OECD members of the WTO. It also…
Poles of the trading system
Fri, Jun 20 2008
Simon Evenett has observed that, on the numbers, at least two of the Gang of Four that has dominated the Doha round negotiations since 2006 are not really 'poles' of global trade although they may become more polar in future. What is also notable about the three developing countries in the 'potential poles' group (Brazil, China, India), says Evenett, is that they have relatively little experience…