Trade Preferences/GSP

Using trade preferences to promote non-trade policies is controversial.  It's not completely clear to what extent this is permitted under WTO rules.  And regardless of the legality, it can be irritating to those countries on the receiving end of these demands. In addition to those questions, there is

From the AP: Jordanie Pinquie Rebeca leans forward and guides a piece of suit-jacket wool and its silky lining into a sewing machine, where — bat! bat! bat! — they're bound together to be hemmed. If she does this for eight hours, she will earn $3.09. Her boss will

From a statement by USTR General Counsel Tim Reif to the House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, related to the eligibility criteria for U.S. trade preference programs: First, the criteria were intended to and have achieved four core goals: (1) strengthened the rule of law in

From an FT editorial on the EU's likely decision to exclude Sri Lanka from its GSP Plus trade preference program: Using trade as a strategic tool makes the global trading system hostage to endless political posturing and negotiating games. Governments should grant trade preferences on simple, fair criteria,

From the European Commission: The Commission has completed a thorough investigation into the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and in particular whether Sri Lanka is living up to the commitments it made to respect international human rights standards when it became a beneficiary of the European Union's

As a quick update on these two posts, the Economist reports that Sri Lanka is not likely to continue to benefit from the EU's GSP Plus tariff preference program: The confidential 130-page report, which has been obtained by The Economist, concludes that Sri Lanka has failed to honour

This all sounds familiar.  A developed country uses illegal drug production/trafficking as a criterion for deciding which countries to include in a tariff preference program.  The DS246 EC - Tariff Preferences case, brought by India?  No, this time it's the United States excluding Bolivia from one of

USTR announces: U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab announced that President Bush has directed her to publish in the Federal Register a notice of his proposed action to suspend Bolivia’s designation as a beneficiary country under the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) and the Andean Trade Promotion and

Speaking of the EC GSP program, as I was in the last post, the Economist has an article this week in which they discuss Sri Lanka's access to the GSP Plus program.  The GSP Plus program requires compliance with various international labor, environmental and human rights standards, and