International Economic Law and Policy Blog (Page 416)

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"Devaluations Cause Trade Tensions"

This statement comes from an article in this week's Economist. Earlier in the piece, they talk about the Great Depression and make the following point that helps explain why devaluations cause trade tensions: Countries that cut the link to gold quickly and allowed their currencies to fluctuate endured

Chief Trade Adviser to Forum Island Countries

This looks like a great job for somebody: The [Pacific Island Forum] Secretariat is looking to appoint a suitably qualified and experienced person to work as the: • Chief Trade Adviser to Forum Island Countries for Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus negotiations The Chief Trade Adviser will be

Charnovitz: USTR Advisory Groups Need To Be Improved

The final cross-post from Steve Charnovitz: by Steve Charnovitz Having advisory groups is important for governments and international organizations. Left to themselves, government bureaucrats and international civil servants are often unimaginative and lack good ground-level information. As I have noted in my scholarship over the past decades (see

Danny Bradlow on Foreign Buying of African Land

He has some suggestions over at Vox for how to make sure those selling the land benefit: * Ensure adequate transparency by either following or adopting similar transparency standards to those contained in theExtractive Industry Transparency Initiative; * Ensure that the projects conform to best social and environmental practices by either committing

Russian Worries about Anti-Dumping Actions

From Reuters: Steel makers in Russia, the world's fourth-largest producer, have suffered from a decline in orders from the construction and automotive sectors as the global economic slowdown cuts demand. In response they have boosted exports, though this has led to a growing threat of tariffs and

Charnovitz: USTR Should Devote More Attention to Worker Issues

Cross-post #4 from Steve Charnovitz:by Steve Charnovitz Does USTR care about the workers who produce the goods and services in world trade? There is reason for doubt. In my 34 years of being a USTR-watcher, I have observed that the level of interest in labor, employment, and

More from the World Trade Report 2009

I found a lot of interesting things in the WTO's World Trade Report 2009, released yesterday. Here are a few tidbits. From page 51, questions about the problem of applying safeguards to services: How could the notion of safeguards be extended to the movement of consumers, under mode

Charnovitz: Transparency Chapter of KORUS FTA Is Problematic

A third cross-post by Steve Charnovitz: by Steve Charnovitz The Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) is one of the three pending US free trade agreements that have been negotiated and signed, but not yet approved by the United States. Chapter 21 of the KORUS is titled “Transparency” and

WTO Report: Dumping is Good

At least in most cases. From page 67 of the World Trade Report 2009, released today: What are the effects of dumping on the economic welfare of the importing country? Economic theory suggests that, with the possible exception of predatory dumping, all other instances of dumping either increase, or at

Pascal Lamy on "Contingent Protection"

From a speech: We generally think of contingency trade policy as actions available to deal with unanticipated market situations. It is well understood such measures are fundamental to the effectiveness and stability of trade agreements. In their various guises, they can be thought of as safety valves, a form of