The WTO Doha Trade Round - Unlocking the Negotiations and Beyond

The WTO Doha Trade Round - Unlocking the Negotiations and Beyond
Author: International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 17
Release: 2011-11-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1498338259

This note provides an update on the status of Doha negotiations and an outlook on significant non-Doha trade issues that should be tackled in the near future. Section II investigates what has stalled progress on Doha since the IMF Executive Board was last briefed in October 2008 (World Bank and IMF, 2008). Section III illustrates that notable gains would come from a Doha conclusion, both from actual new market access and--perhaps more crucially--from the added trade security that Doha would bring. However, Section IV suggests that the time may now have come to devote more resources to discussing important non-Doha issues at the WTO. Section V concludes that the Fund should continue to support both a Doha conclusion as well as the important work on non-Doha issues.

Rigged Rules and Double Standards

Rigged Rules and Double Standards
Author: Kevin Watkins
Publisher: Oxfam
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2002
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780855985257

A critical and detailed analysis of inequalities of world trade systems.

The Collapse of Global Trade, Murky Protectionism, and the Crisis

The Collapse of Global Trade, Murky Protectionism, and the Crisis
Author: Richard E. Baldwin
Publisher:
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2011-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781907142239

The global financial crisis of 2008/9 is the Great Depression of the 21st century. For many though, the similarities stop at the Wall Street Crash as the current generation of policymakers have acted quickly to avoid the mistakes of the past. Yet the global crisis has made room for mistakes all of its own. While governments have apparently kept to their word on refraining from protectionist measures in the style of 1930s tariffs, there has been a disturbing rise in "murky protectionism." Seemingly benign, these crisis-linked policies are twisted to favour domestic firms, workers and investors. This book, first published as an eBook on VoxEU.org in March 2009, brings together leading trade policy practitioners and experts - including Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo. Initially its aim was to advise policymakers heading in to the G20 meeting in London, but since the threat of murky protectionism persists, so too do their warnings.

The Urgent Call for Harmonizing Preferential Rules of Origin

The Urgent Call for Harmonizing Preferential Rules of Origin
Author: Hatem Mabrouk
Publisher: Editora Dialética
Total Pages: 117
Release: 2024-06-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 6527027656

In an increasingly interconnected world, rules of origin—laws determining the national source of a product—play a crucial role in international trade. Yet, with each country setting its own standards, the global market faces a complex web of regulations that often impedes rather than facilitates trade. "The Urgent Call for Harmonizing Preferential Rules of Origin" by Hatem Mabrouk delves into these complexities and challenges. The book reveals how preferential rules of origin, designed to determine eligibility for tariff preferences under trade agreements, are often manipulated for protectionist and political aims, creating significant obstacles for global producers and traders. Through rigorous analysis and case studies, Mabrouk explores the detrimental impacts of these systems and proposes a harmonized approach aligned with the World Trade Organization to streamline and improve international trade practices. Mabrouk's proposal offers a robust blueprint for policymakers and trade bodies to refine global trade mechanisms. "The Urgent Call for Harmonizing Preferential Rules of Origin" is essential reading for anyone involved in international trade or global economics, advocating for clearer and fairer trade regulations to enhance global economic prosperity.

Fifth Periodic Monitoring Report on the Status of Implementation Plans in Response to Board-Endorsed IEO Recommendations

Fifth Periodic Monitoring Report on the Status of Implementation Plans in Response to Board-Endorsed IEO Recommendations
Author: International Monetary Fund. Strategy, Policy, & Review Department
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 49
Release: 2012-09-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1498339832

Periodic Monitoring Reports update the status on Management Implementation Plans (MIPs) in response to Executive Board-endorsed IEO recommendations. The last Periodic Monitoring Report (PMR) was discussed by the Board Evaluation Committee (EVC) and then agreed by the Board in August 2011. That report concluded that all key performance benchmarks related to the MIPs covered in that report had either been met or were on track for timely completion, that no new remedial actions were proposed, and that there were no outstanding performance benchmarks to be reviewed in the next PMR. In their assessment to the Executive Board, the EVC did, however, note that further work was needed on three other issues—staff mobility, enhanced coverage of previous implementation plans, and the process for following up on IEO recommendations. This fifth report therefore updates work on these three issues, including a consolidated picture of recent progress on all Board-endorsed recommendations made since the first PMR in 2007. This PMR also presents progress on the Implementation Plan in response to Board-endorsed recommendations arising from the IEO Evaluation of IMF Interactions with Member Countries (hereafter, Interactions Evaluation).

Termites in the Trading System

Termites in the Trading System
Author: Jagdish Bhagwati
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2008-07-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199715904

Jagdish Bhagwati, the internationally renowned economist who uniquely combines a reputation as the leading scholar of international trade with a substantial presence in public policy on the important issues of the day, shines here a critical light on Preferential Trade Agreements, revealing how the rapid spread of PTAs endangers the world trading system. Numbering by now well over 300, and rapidly increasing, these preferential trade agreements, many taking the form of Free Trade Agreements, have re-created the unhappy situation of the 1930s, when world trade was undermined by discriminatory practices. Whereas this was the result of protectionism in those days, ironically it is a result of misdirected pursuit of free trade via PTAs today. The world trading system is at risk again, the author argues, and the danger is palpable. Writing with his customary wit, panache and elegance, Bhagwati documents the growth of these PTAs, the reasons for their proliferation, and their deplorable consequences which include the near-destruction of the non-discrimination which was at the heart of the postwar trade architecture and its replacement by what he has called the spaghetti bowl of a maze of preferences. Bhagwati also documents how PTAs have undermined the prospects for multilateral freeing of trade, serving as stumbling blocks, instead of building blocks, for the objective of reaching multilateral free trade. In short, Bhagwati cogently demonstrates why PTAs are Termites in the Trading System.

China And The Group 20: The Interplay Between A Rising Power And An Emerging Institution

China And The Group 20: The Interplay Between A Rising Power And An Emerging Institution
Author: Catrina Schlager
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2016-11-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1938134915

Since the great financial crisis in 2008, the Group 20 (G20) has played an increasingly important role in global economic governance as an emerging global macroeconomic coordination mechanism. China and the Group 20 provides experts' observations on the development of the G20, G20's influence on global economic governance and China's role in this emerging institution. The first part of the book analyses important policy issues facing the G20 and global economic governance including the G20's role in strengthening and promoting global macroeconomic coordination; reform of the international financial system; the stability and effectiveness of the international monetary system; the integration of international trade and investment regimes; the new agenda of international development and the complex relations among the major powers. The second part focuses on China's relations with the United States, the EU, and the other BRICS countries, and their implications to the G20's development. China, as the largest developing country and the second largest economy, has the responsibility to safeguard the general interests of developing countries on one hand, and to cooperate with the developed countries to create an equal and open economic environment on the other hand. The book chapters are contributed by experts from the main member countries of the G20.

IEO Evaluation Report

IEO Evaluation Report
Author: International Monetary Fund. Independent Evaluation Office
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 54
Release: 2020-02-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513522205

This report updates the 2009 IEO evaluation of IMF Involvement in International Trade Policy Issues. Since then, the composition and structure of international trade have evolved, but trade has not regained its former dynamism. With increasing concern about potential winners and losers from trade, there has been a loss of political support for globalization, increasing trade tensions and protectionism, and the institutional framework supporting multilateral trade has come under heavy strain. The report concludes that overall the IMF deserves considerable credit for its active and timely response, playing a prominent role in championing commitment to an open, rules-based multilateral trading system. The Fund has largely implemented the recommendations of the 2009 evaluation and has strengthened and consolidated its trade policy analysis and advice, appropriately focusing on the key macroeconomic effects and associated risks of trade policy developments at the national and international levels. IMF advocacy on trade has been underpinned by a major expansion in the attention to trade policy issues in multilateral surveillance—and to some extent in bilateral surveillance—supported by high-quality research and analysis, building on the Fund’s well-established modeling capacity. Looking forward, the Fund will need to sustain its current high level of advocacy and analysis on trade policy issues and consider how to increase the overall impact of this work. Key challenges include: contributing to foster a recommitment to trade policy cooperation; further attention to translating multilateral surveillance into bilateral policy advice; consolidating relations with partner institutions; and increased attention to rapidly developing trade policy issues. Across all these dimensions, care will be needed to ensure appropriate evenhandedness in trade policy surveillance across countries. A holistic review of the IMF’s “trade strategy” would help to guide trade policy work and the allocation of scarce resources among competing priorities.

Agreeing and Implementing the Doha Round of the WTO

Agreeing and Implementing the Doha Round of the WTO
Author: Harald Hohmann
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 504
Release: 2008-11-10
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1139474170

The Doha Round is the first major trade negotiation round under the WTO since the failure of the Seattle Ministerial in 1999. The Doha discussions and results will have a large impact on the future of international trade law. Leading scholars and practitioners from three continents comment on four such areas in this book. Firstly, poverty eradication, capacity building, and special and differential treatment are required to change for WTO law to be accepted globally; this may lead to a reinterpretation of WTO law. Secondly, the major trade policy concerns, the global concept of competition, and the impacts of trade facilitation and of sustainability of trade liberalization are examined. The third topic is the improvement of the dispute settlement through, for example, a relaxation of tensions between the judicial and diplomatic models. Finally, possible solutions for the balance between free trade, environmental protection and human rights are explored.

Free Trade under Fire

Free Trade under Fire
Author: Douglas A. Irwin
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2015-06-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0691166250

Growing international trade has helped lift living standards around the world, and yet free trade is always under attack. Critics complain that trade forces painful economic adjustments, such as plant closings and layoffs of workers, and charge that the World Trade Organization serves the interests of corporations, undercuts domestic environmental regulations, and erodes America's sovereignty. Why has global trade—and trade agreements such as NAFTA—become so controversial? Does free trade deserve its bad reputation? In Free Trade under Fire, Douglas Irwin sweeps aside the misconceptions that litter the debate over trade and gives the reader a clear understanding of the issues involved. This fourth edition has been thoroughly updated to include the most recent policy developments and the latest research findings on the impact of trade.