scholarly journals The Rise of Bilateralism in Trade and its Implications for Pakistan

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (Special Edition) ◽  
pp. 111-133
Author(s):  
Irfan ul Haque Irfan ul Haque
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Most Favored Nation ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Trade Area ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
The Us ◽  
Preferential Trading ◽  
Post War ◽  
Preferential Trading Arrangements

This paper examines and critiques the worldwide mushrooming of preferential trading arrangements and traces its implications for Pakistan. It points out that this development is fundamentally contrary to the principle of most-favored-nation (MFN) treatment, which was the cornerstone of the post-war multilateral trading system as embodied in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The causes of the rise in bilateral and regional trading arrangements are discussed and it is shown that they pose a real threat to many relatively small economies, including Pakistan. The paper discusses the various preferential trade agreements Pakistan has already signed. It notes that, with the exception of its trade agreement with China, Pakistan has not succeeded in concluding preferential trading arrangements with any of the strategically and systemically more important countries, viz., the US, European Union, and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) could potentially be of considerable importance for Pakistan’s long-term economic growth, but this potential might not be realized if India and Pakistan fail to overcome their mutual differences. Finally, the paper explores steps that might be taken to promote Pakistan’s economic interests in its bilateral relations.

Multilateralism compromised: the mysterious origins of GATT Article XXIV

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
KERRY CHASE
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Cold War ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Area ◽  
Policy Ideas ◽  
The Us

The GATT treaty's loophole for free trade areas in Article XXIV has puzzled and deceived prominent scholars, who trace its postwar origins to US aspirations to promote European integration and efforts to persuade developing countries to endorse the Havana Charter. Drawing from archival records, this article shows that in fact US policymakers crafted the controversial provisions of Article XXIV to accommodate a trade treaty they had secretly reached with Canada. As a result, the free trade area exemption was embedded in the GATT–WTO regime, even though neither the Havana Charter nor the US–Canada free trade agreement was ever ratified. Theoretically, the case is an important example of how Cold War exigencies altered the policy ideas of US officials.

The Central American Clothing Assembly Industry and the Asian Competition

2014 ◽  
pp. 313-325
Author(s):  
Dale Mathews ◽  
Segundo Castro
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
Export Performance ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Central American ◽  
Export Industry ◽  
Trade Area ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Usa

This chapter examines the export performance of clothing assembly industries in the countries of Central America to the US market. It commences with a brief summary of the history of the growth and limited evolution of the Central American and Caribbean Basin garment export industry in the face of evolving trade liberalization. It then examines how China and other Asian countries have eclipsed the region's clothing exports to the USA as they made inroads into the latter's market. It is argued that China's membership in the World Trade Organization commencing in 2001 and the phasing out of quotas under the Multi-Fiber Agreement in 2005 combined to thwart any expansion that Central American clothing exporters could have achieved in the US market. While US Harmonized Tariff System data for both knitted (HTS 61) and non-knitted (HTS 62) apparel and clothing accessory imports were examined, only the former were presented, as they represent a much more significant share of Central America's overall garment exports to the USA. US imports from Central America under HTS 61 are shown to have either declined or remained stagnant in value terms and in value market share throughout the period examined. In order to zero in on specific categories that are important within the context of the Central American garment export industry, a selection, disaggregated into four digit HTS subcategories, was made of knitted or crocheted apparel and accessories from the region to ascertain its performance over the first decade of the new century. These data are reviewed in comparison with similar data corresponding to imports from China in order to ascertain the performance of Central American exporters. Finally, the work is also placed within the context of the Free Trade Area of Central America and Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR) in an attempt to discern its possible medium- to long-term impact, since specific provisions of the trade agreement aim precisely at boosting the region's garment assembly sector.

scholarly journals Competitiveness of the EU Agri-Food Sector on the US Market: Worth Reviving Transatlantic Trade?

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Karolina Pawlak
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Food Sector ◽  
Competitive Position ◽  
Trade Area ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
Transatlantic Trade ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Eu

The systematically strengthening role of emerging economies has become a factor strongly determining the overall trade policy of the European Union (EU) and the United States of America (USA), as well as their bilateral relations. One of the initiatives aiming at the strengthening of economic ties within the transatlantic partnership, as a consequence promoting stabilization of the positions of the EU and the USA in the world economy, was related with negotiations concerning the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The EU-USA trade talks were suspended at the end of 2016; however, the establishment of the EU-USA free trade area might be a breakthrough in the transatlantic relations, while the conclusion of this agreement would significantly determine the competitive position of the agri-food sector of these two economies, both in their bilateral relations and in world trade. In view of the above, the aim of this paper is to estimate the competitive position of the EU agri-food sector in transatlantic trade considering the conclusion of the agreement establishing the EU-USA free trade area. For this purpose, Widodo’s method of mapping products on the target market was applied. Results from the conducted analyses suggest that from 2010–2020 comparative advantages gained by the EU on the US market were sources of an advantageous export specialization. In view of the forecasted dynamic increase in agri-food export from the EU to the USA caused by possible liberalization of bilateral trade, the relatively strong competitive position of the EU on the American market might be maintained or even strengthened. However, such a situation would be determined by the regulatory cooperation progressing with the reduction of tariffs.

Geo-Economic Competition in Latin America: Brazil, Venezuela, and Regional Integration in the 21st Century

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme Casarões
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Competition ◽  
Integration Model ◽  
Trade Area ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
The Us ◽  
New Institutions

The institutional framework of Latin American integration saw a period of intense transformation in the 2000s, with the death of the ambitious project of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), spearheaded by the United States, and the birth of two new institutions, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). This article offers a historical reconstruction of regional integration structures in the 2000s, with emphasis on the fault lines between Brazil, Venezuela and the US, and how they have shaped the institutional order across the hemisphere. We argue that the shaping of UNASUR and CELAC, launched respectively in 2007 and 2010, is the outcome of three complex processes: (1) Brazil’s struggle to strengthen Mercosur by acting more decisively as a regional paymaster; (2) Washington’s selective engagement with some key regional players, notably Colombia, and (3) Venezuela’s construction of an alternative integration model through the Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA) and oil diplomacy. If UNASUR corresponded to Brazil’s strategy to neutralize the growing role of Caracas in South America and to break apart the emerging alliance between Venezuela, Argentina, and Bolivia, CELAC was at the same time a means to keep the US away from regional decisions, and to weaken the Caracas-Havana axis that sustained ALBA.

Recent Developments in the Regulation of Investor-State Dispute Resolution: Any Lessons for the Southern African Development Community?

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 180-204
Author(s):  
Lawrence Ngobeni ◽  
Babatunde Fagbayibo
Keyword(s):  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Southern African Development Community ◽  
African Union ◽  
Foreign Investments ◽  
African Development ◽  
Trade Area ◽  
Recent Developments

Abstract In 2016, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) amended Annex 1 of the SADC Protocol on Finance and Investment (FIP) in order to remove investor access to international arbitration or Investor-State Dispute Resolution (ISDS). The recent formation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (T-FTA) are factors that will likely curtail SADC’s ability to regulate foreign investments. Both AfCFTA and T-FTA are supposed to have their own investment protocols. This means that SADC faces the loss of regulatory authority over foreign investments. The recent formation of the Pan African Investment Code (PAIC) has shown that some African Union (AU) Member States want to provide ISDS for their investors, while others including SADC Members States do not. This article intends to evaluate the lessons SADC can learn from other jurisdictions in terms of the effective regulation of ISDS.

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

2015 ◽  
pp. 14-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Kadochnikov ◽  
M. Ptashkina
Keyword(s):  
Market Access ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Government Procurement ◽  
Atlantic Trade ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Future ◽  
High Standards ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Trade And Investment

The US and the EU are negotiating a comprehensive Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The main purposes of the agreement are to stimulate economic growth and employment, to facilitate trade and investment and raise competitiveness on both sides of the Atlantic. The US and EU are the biggest trade and investment partners for each other, as well as most important partners for a number of other countries. The Trans-Atlantic free trade agreement would not only facilitate bilateral cooperation, but has a potential to set up new, more advanced international trade and investment rules and practices. The agreement is aimed, among other point, at resolving some of the existing problems in bilateral relations, such as differences in regulatory practices, market access conditions, government procurement, intellectual property rights (IPR) and investor protection. However, some of these differences are deeply inherent in the regulatory systems and have become the reasons for numerous disputes. Despite the fact that the negotiations on TTIP are still in progress, it is already possible to identify and assess the underlying differences that would potentially hamper the creation of deep provisions in the future agreement. The paper aims at analyzing the most difficult areas of negotiations and giving predictions for the future provisions. Firstly, the paper gives an overview of the scope and structure of bilateral relations between the US and EU. Secondly, the authors give detailed analysis of the most important points of the negotiation’s agenda, making stress on the underlying differences in domestic regulation and assessing the depth of those differences. The conclusions are as follows. While some of the areas, such as tariffs, labor and environment, SMEs, state enterprises and others, are relatively easy to agree upon, as both economies are striving to achieve high standards, negotiations on other issues, such as government procurement, NTM regulation and IPR are less likely to achieve high standards.

scholarly journals MOVIMIENTOS SOCIALES E INTEGRACIÓN REGIONAL: EL CASO DE LA ARTICULACIÓN DE MOVIMIENTOS SOCIALES HACIA EL ALBA

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (16) ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karla Díaz Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Trade Area ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Entity ◽  
The Us ◽  
America Latina ◽  
Movimientos Sociales

El ALBA es un espacio de integración regional, alternativo al alca propuesto por EEUU, que inaugura una etapa denominada regionalismo posneoliberal. El ALBA desde sus orígenes ha contado con el acompañamiento de movimientos sociales de carácter antiimperialista y antineoliberal. La propia organización generó una instancia social: el Consejo de Movimientos Sociales; sin embargo, los movimientos sociales han generado de forma paralela y autónoma la Articulación de Movimientos Sociales hacia el ALBA. Este trabajo da cuenta de las características de este espacio de articulación social, a partir de propuestas teóricas pensadas en América Latina, y presenta un balance de las potencialidades y los desafíos de los movimientos sociales en el escenario latinoamericano y su influencia en la integración regional.   SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND REGIONAL INTEGRATION: THE ARTICULATION OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS TOWARD ALBAABSTRACTALBA (the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas) is a regional integration entity created as an alternative to the US-proposed FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas, ALCA in Spanish). ALBA inaugurates a period that has been referred to as post-neoliberal regionalism. Since its origin, ALBA has been accompanied by social movements with an anti-imperialistic and anti-neoliberal stance. ALBA, itself, generated a social entity: the Social Movements Council. However, in a parallel and autonomous way, the social movements created the Articulation of Social Movements toward ALBA. This article describes the characteristics of this entity for social articulation based on theoretical proposals developed in Latin America, and presents a balance of the potentialities and challenges of social movements in Latin America and their incidence in regional integration.

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