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Trade in Everything

66 posts

The Doha Problem

The WTO has just published the request by Qatar for consultations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia concerning their trade restrictions. I quickly skimmed through the requests and found a few interesting points: 1. This is the second time a WTO Member has made consultation requests simultaneously

Trade in Everything: Used Clothing

From The Economist: GIKOMBA market, just north of Nairobi’s downtown, is a place to buy just about anything. At its entrance, where ragged minibuses push their way through rutted red mud, stalls sell piles of pillows, plastic toys, cutlery and soap. But the most common wares are second-hand clothing.

Trade in Everything: Lion Hunting Services

From the Washington Post a few weeks ago: They call it canned hunting. South African ranchers breed lions in captivity, from cubs to adults, then release them just after the arrival of a hunter who pays about $15,000 for a kill. Sometimes the animal is drugged to make it

Trade in Everything: Medical Marijuana Without the High

Even though marijuana has been legalized here and there, it may be a while before it is traded internationally. But what if there is a new kind of marijuana, one that relieves pain without the high? This is from the Washington Post: In a greenhouse in the mountains of the

Trade in Everything: Prison Services

Apparently, there is not enough crime in the Netherlands to fill their prisons, so they are looking elsewhere for occupants. At the same time, the Norwegians are facing a shortage of prison space due to "renovations." (Granite countertops in the kitchens?) Luckily, international trade has come to the

Trade in Everything: Soap Operas and Porn

From the Washington Post: There is no shortage of problems facing China these days: a terrorist attack that recently left 33 people dead and 143 injured, corruption in government, a worrisome slowdown in economic growth. So when the country’s two highest governing bodies met in Beijing this week, what

Trade in Everything: Diaper Fluff

From the WSJ: Three years ago, International Paper Co. closed an enormous mill [in Franklin, Virginia] that for generations had churned out white office paper, putting 1,100 people out of work and dealing a major blow to this tidewater city of 8,500. Now, the world's largest

Trade in Everything: Turkey Tails

This Bloomberg article talks about the difficulties certain Pacific nations have had with taking measures to restrict imports of unhealthy food, without violating WTO rules. The focus is on Samoa's accession committments related to imports of turkey tails: After a 13-year wait, the South Pacific island nation of

Trade in Everything: Flying Pigs

From the Daily Mail: An entire Boeing 747 has been hired at £330,000 per trip to fly pigs in more comfort on the 5,500-mile journey than humans often have in economy class. It is an extraordinary turn of events for a country of 1.3 billion once known

Trade in Everything: Public School Students

From the AP: Northern Maine is 7,000 miles and a world away from China, but that's not stopping a school superintendent from recruiting Chinese students to attend public high school in this remote mill town. Faced with declining enrollments and shrinking revenues, public school districts from Maine