Transcript International Trade What is international trade?     imports, exports foreign investment WTO, NAFTA, EU and, potentially, everything else.

International Trade
What is international trade?
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imports, exports
foreign investment
WTO, NAFTA, EU
and, potentially, everything else
Trade terms
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Dumping -- selling imports into a domestic market
at a price lower than the cost of production in the
country of origin—”less than fair value” (LTFV)
Tariff --A fee (or duty) levied upon goods
transported from one customs area to another
Trade subsidies -- government payments or other
benefits to producers that make their prices
“unfairly” low
Countervailing duties – extra fee levied by
importing country to counter unfair subsidy
Legal framework
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most countries members of WTO
many countries also have bilateral
or regional trade agreements
trade agreements generally have
dispute resolution mechanisms
trade obligations may
affect/supplant national law
WTO history
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Began in 1995, built on GATT
GATT began in 1947.
GATT intended as tariff-cutting
agreement.
“Rounds” are series of negotiations
intended to cut tariffs.
3 main principles of GATT/WTO
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convert all trade barriers to tariffs
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most-favored-nation (MFN)
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transparent
easier to administer
any favorable trade treatment must be
given to all members
national treatment
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imports treated equally with domestic
WTO: 6 components
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trade in goods –1994 GATT
agreement –all bound
product standards –all bound
GATS –trade in services—not all
bound
TRIPs –all bound
plurilateral agreements (e.g., gov’t
procurement) –some bound
dispute resolution –all bound
WTO structure
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Ministerial Body (meets every 2
years; e.g., Seattle)
General Council –main governing
body
Secretariat –permanent professional
staff
WTO dispute resolution process
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“request for consultations” =
complaint
panel
appellate body (appeals routine)
loser must bring itself into
compliance
if not, winner can retaliate
Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs);
Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)
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permitted by WTO
multilateral or bilateral
important because of stalled
progress on Doha round
US aggressively pursuing
NAFTA
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earlier CFTA (US-Canada)
decreases, then removes tariffs
Anti-dumping, countervailing duty
disputes (Chapter 19) — arbitration
before bi-national panels
investment disputes (Chapter 11)—
ICSID arbitration, UNCITRAL
Researching WTO law
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Jeanne Rehberg’s guide:
http://www.law.nyu.edu/library/research
/researchguides/wtogattresearch/index
.htm
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ASIL’s Elec. Res. Guide
treatises for background, concepts,
details
WTO site
USTR site for US perspective
WTO site
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documents from 1995 (selected
older documents)
treaties
WTO Analytical Index — Guide to
WTO Law and Practice (travaux and
interpretation)
reports, news, statistics
WTO Analytical Index
WTO Analytical Index—find decisions
by treaty article
WTO site: Documents Online
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accessible from Trade Topics with
drop-down menus
browse or search
document symbol: e.g.,
G/SCM/59/Add.2
document number: e.g., 04-4872
WorldTradeLaw.net
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part free, part subscription
search engine for WTO docs
easier to download WTO docs
expert commentary, index
TradeLawGuide
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citator for WTO panel and AB
decisions
interprets key terms
WTO jurisprudence by treaty, article
Tariff schedules
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US Harmonized Tariff Schedule
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US International Trade Commission site
WTO site –schedule of concessions
national trade department sites
Other resources
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Westlaw, Lexis
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WTO panel and AB decisions
NAFTA decisions
treaties
GATT documents – Stanford
http://gatt.stanford.edu/bin/search/
simple
BNA’s International Trade Reporter