Posts tagged…Wto
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…
Read more…Anti-dumping actions on the rise
Fri, May 08 2009
Let me first of all get in an 'I told you so'.
Anti-dumping complaints are counter-cyclical. Invariably, the numbers rise, with a lag, as industrial output slumps. We've seen declining levels up to 2007 but now… WTO is reporting a 27% year-on-year rise in the number of investigations.
"The Members reporting the highest number of new initiations during July-December 2008 were India, reporting 42,…
Quibble over ‘slippage’ on protection
Tue, Apr 28 2009Meanwhile in Geneva… the WTO delegations have been debating whether the Secretariat's second report on protectionist measures (issued a month ago) showed 'significant slippage' in Member governments' commitment to hold the line, or not.
The U.S. ambassador disagreed with the proposition that Member governments had begun to default on their promises.
“We understand the danger of an incremental…
Where will Kirk take the Doha entreprise?
Wed, Apr 15 2009Australia's Trade Minister, Simon Crean, is doggedly faithful to the Doha round. He has recently visited Ron Kirk, the new US Trade representative. No doubt, to gee him up.
But the peak United States industry groups have it right in their letter to the new US President. There cannot be an ambitious outcome in WTO negotiations unless there is substantial degree reciprocity from those developing…
Growth rate of regional trade agreements
Wed, Apr 08 2009
It is often said that the growth in the number of RTAs has been 'exponential'. Thanks to the WTO's database of RTAs it's now easy to keep tab of the trend. Here's what it looks like as of March 2009.
G20 communiqué an improvement
Fri, Apr 03 2009If you read the undertakings on trade and protectionism—with only a moderately skeptical eye—as a firm undertaking, it is not as "wooly" as the critics claim. On the contrary, it is a substantial improvement on other recent efforts and streets ahead of the wobbly paragraph 13 of their November 2008 communiqué.
The underlined phrases (my emphasis) are the significant parts. They make the…
A WTO ‘code’ on carbon tariffs
Thu, Apr 02 2009Gary Hufbauer, Steve Charnovitz and Jisun Kim from the Peterson Institute have produced a small book that recommends a way to deal with the vexing—but probably inevitable— conflict between future UNEP obligations to control GHG emissions and WTO provisions on keeping markets free from regulatory distortions at, and behind, the border for goods and services.
The book helpfully and accurately…
Empty words won’t limit the ‘wriggle room’
Tue, Mar 24 2009Democracy ensures we get the governments we deserve.
Gideon Rachman seems to think we deserve only to be consoled for the political dilemma of G20 leaders rather than offered real solutions to the frailties of the global trade framework. He agrees the problem is the threat of 'wiggle room' protection:
"[I]f the world’s political leaders start deliberately increasing barriers to trade, they will…
Teachers’ kits on WTO - Keeping the peace
Tue, Mar 17 2009
The final installment (for now) of my Teachers Kits on WTO, designed to help teachers in junior, middle and high schools deliver classes on WTO as part of, for example, a civics curriculum. The kits were commissioned by the WTO.
This installment concerns WTO dispute settlement: a subject that might be too advanced for junior school, so this kit contains class materials only for middle and high…
Rodrik’s Plan B for global finance
Tue, Mar 17 2009
"[T]he logic of global financial regulation is flawed. The world economy will be far more stable and prosperous with a thin veneer of international co-operation superimposed on strong national regulations than with attempts to construct a bold global regulatory and supervisory framework. The risk we run is that pursuing an ambitious goal will detract us from something that is more desirable and…
Dolphin-Tuna: here we go again…
Thu, Mar 12 2009The Mexican government has called for a reprise of one of the most controversial 'environmental' disputes ever bought to the GATT: the US—Dolphin-Tuna case. The case, then and now, concerns an attempt by the United States to use an import barrier to extend it's own 'dolphin-friendly' fishing regulations in an extra-territorial way to Mexican fishermen… or maybe just to block the entry of…
Finding data on WTO Agriculture agreements
Mon, Mar 09 2009The WTO's framework of trade agreements for agricultural policies is complex. The WTO Agreement on Agriculture (supplemented by rules in the GATT, the Subsidies Agreement and the SPS Agreement) regulates the external impacts of countries' border barriers and the impact of their internal market manipulation policies on external competition. It's impossible to make useful assessments of the…