I wanted to point out a couple recent Ben Muse posts.
First, he has one today arguing that it is "time to move away from the Cuban trade embargo," and also describing various Presidential candidates' position on the issue.
Second, he had a post a little while back asking whether the U.S.-Korea FTA would undermine Korean anti-smoking efforts:
The Koreans generally impose 20% tariffs on unprocessed tobacco and 40% tariffs on processed tobacco products - suggesting that the tariffs play a role in encouraging domestic manufactures as well as in smoking policy. Processed and unprocessed tobacco products alike fall into the "staging category" G, which means that tariffs will be removed in ten equal annual increments, starting the day the agreement enters into force, eventually going to zero.
[The Center for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health (CPATH)] thinks the drop in tariffs will reduce domestic Korean prices and encourage increased tobacco consumption. Note that increased competition in the Korean market may also be associated with increased marketing efforts.
I suspect that, all other things equal, that might happen, noting that: (a) there would be some offsetting reductions in domestic production and in imports from other countries, (b) some of the impact on U.S. imports may represent a shift from unprocessed to processed product.
Korea would presumably be free to impose non-discriminatory sales taxes on tobacco products to offset any price impacts and restrain consumption. I assume it could also limit advertizing and promotional efforts in non-discriminatory ways.
