Trade Rules Research Articles

Entrepreneurial culture in small businesses in Sinaloa

This research work aimed to analyse the conditions of entrepreneurial activity and culture in the environment of small businesses in Sinaloa, considering the relevance and correlation between success stories and their processes. The importance of this topic is that there is a requirement for administrative orientation since the functions of the partners are related to the administrative role, and they have been updating themselves in the processes and management of local and international transactions that mark the new orientations. In this way, innovative techniques and strategies are required to deal with conflicts in relation to the above. Likewise, this will enable them to develop and implement strategies and actions aligned with the technological and sustainable (social, economic, and environmental) advances that are demanded today in the rules of world trade. Hypothesis. Adequate management is considered a pillar for the long-term success of small businesses, motivating the innovative spirit of an organisation's partners, and creating competitive advantages for the organisation over its competitors.

Reforming Digital Trade Rules at the WTO: Clarifying E-Commerce Regulation Policy Space for Economic Inclusion

Purpose: The purpose is to critically analyze the challenges and opportunities associated with reforming digital trade rules at the WTO, in order to explore the implications of ambiguous language and propose new principles and interpretative guidance to refine the rules.
 Methodology: The methodology involves analysis of ambiguous language in existing WTO agreements and proposed e-commerce rules, examination of influence on domestic digital sector capacity, case studies of digital industrial policies and technology regulations, and a proposal for new principles and interpretative guidance.
 Findings: The key findings are that ambiguity allows powerful tech giants to contest policies, impacts nurturing of domestic digital sector capacity, and burdens emerging markets. Case studies illustrate tensions around policy space for inclusive innovation.
 Unique contribution to theory, policy and practice: The unique contributions are the proposal of new principles to refine digital trade rules, development of interpretative guidance to affirm regulatory autonomy rights, and comparison with past WTO pharmaceutical patent waivers debate to emphasize need for adaptive and inclusive regulatory frameworks. Recommendations focus on promoting economic inclusion, innovation, competitiveness, and collaborative approaches in the digital era.

Peripheral voices: women in international trade scholarship

Abstract We ask how women are faring in the field of international trade both as knowledge producers and as policy-makers, with a focus on the former. This is an important question in light of the increased, if belated, attention paid to the gendered impact of international trade rules and of the gendered nature of academia. Using article publishing as a proxy for international trade scholarship, we create a unique dataset consisting of trade-related articles published in the 27 most influential journals in the field during the past 20 years. Examining the gender balance of authors in our database reveals that, despite recent progress, women's voices are still peripheral in the field, comprising just 31.5 percent of authors in the past five years. We find no reasons to believe this is a peculiarity of knowledge creation in the field of international trade. Rather, the analysis suggests that it is the highly gendered nature of the broad fields of International Relations and International Political Economy that explains the gender imbalance we find. Looking ahead, if we are serious about addressing gender imbalances in international trade policy-making and knowledge production, new knowledge and strategies are needed that address the structural reasons that contribute to the arbitrary but very real gender inequalities both in academia and policy-making. Ensuring women scholars and policy-makers are fully represented in formulating and implementing these strategies is a basic, even if insufficient, precondition for their success. Only after the weaknesses and hurdles are addressed will the deterrence and defence of the region attain a fully credible level.

Article: The Data Is In The Details: Friendshoring, Data Flows and the Role of Digital Trade Rules

The label ‘friendshoring’ has recently emerged to describe an approach to supply chains that focuses on ensuring they can be relied upon, trusted and secured as opposed to just maximising their economic efficiency. Aspects of friendshoring have a longer history in the context of cross-border data flows, which have been (and are increasingly) subject to restrictions aimed at protecting privacy, cyber-security and national security interests. Data flows are critical to the functioning of modern supply chains and are themselves important sources of value. While the goals of data flow restrictions are often laudable, data friendshoring is not without risks and costs. It can have an uneasy relationship with existing trade rules, and spillover effects for other policy interests (including in relation to internet governance and the strength of the rules-based trading system). This article sets out the connections between friendshoring and data flow restrictions. It then examines the role that trade rules play in relation to data friendshoring, including the uncertainty of the application of certain current trade rules to data friendshoring and the benefits that digital trade rules can contribute in relation to data friendshoring. These benefits includes ameliorating the risks associated with data friendshoring, providing greater certainty for those involved in these arrangements, and enabling on-going discussions between potentially fragmented regimes to help rebuild trust over the longer term. digital trade, friendshoring, data flows

Article: Critical Allies and Core Geopolitics in Minerals Trade: Devising a Strategy for India

The shifting geopolitical landscape and the increased demand for critical minerals in the efforts towards green transition have underscored the need to build predictable and resilient mineral supply chains. With the fundamental idea of strengthening economic resilience and ensuring security of supply, countries are increasingly resorting to reshoring, friend-shoring and nearshoring policies in critical minerals trade. Against this backdrop, this article summarizes WTO rules governing international trade in critical minerals and examines emerging international legal trends shaping trade and supply chains in critical minerals. It offers recommendations for devising India’s strategy for critical minerals taking into account the security of supply, international trade rules and other commercial considerations. critical minerals, supply chains, international trade, WTO, India

Article: Friendshoring and Reshoring Semiconductor Supply Chains: US CHIPS Act and the Multilateral Trading System

TheUnited States’ CreatingHelpful incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Sciences Act (CHIPS) Act, introduced in 2022, is a part of the package of new legislations aimed at reindustrialization of the United States (US) and maintaining its position as a hegemon across advanced technology verticals including semiconductors. The Act provides multiple fiscal incentives to entities that wish to set up, modernize or expand facilities engaged in semiconductor production related activities in the US. The Act intends to curb any nexus of beneficiaries with ‘a country of concern’ such as China and it blocks benefits for an entity dealing with such countries. Apart from reshoring capacities the Act also frontlines US strategy to friendshoring semiconductor supply chains.Measures like the CHIPS Act may clash with the international rules-based trading system. Parallelly, the innovative ways to bypass the trade rules may come with their own consequences. They highlight the weakness of the rules-based trading system in providing effective remedies for supply chain issues. In this regard, the article briefly discusses the semiconductor supply chain and traces its sophisticated nature in the context of localization/ally-shoring/onshoring policies. CHIPS Act, Semiconductors, Supply Chains, Friendshoring, Nearshoring, Reshoring, Industrial Policy, International Trade Law, WTO, Supply chain disruption, United States

Community Forest Program and Women Empowerment: A Study Gorkha District

Globalization has had a powerful impact on individuals and societies. Some have argued that Nepal entered the age of globalization only in the 1980—after Nepal began to liberalize rules of international trade. Globalization however, also began to impact individuals and societies in Nepal because of the expanding presence of international development agencies there. One such expansion of international agencies was in the community forestry sector. This paper explores how the internationally driven community forestry program in the Gorkha District of Nepal and the associated Community Forest User Group (CFUG) there, is empowering local women. Although forest conservation programs started from 1960s, the initiation of the community forestry program in 1993 helped convert the nationalized forests into community forests that were handed over to local communities. The shift of the ownership and management responsibility of local forests to the local community (CFUG) also shifted the privilege and power to the locals. The initial intent of the program was to protect forest and wildlife and mitigate the hazards caused by deforestation. In time, however, the program was expanded to the holistic development of the community, including the empowerment of women within such community.

Anne Saab, Review of Matias E. Margulis, Shadow Negotiators: How UN Organizations Shape the Rules of World Trade for Food Security

Anne Saab, Review of Matias E. Margulis, Shadow Negotiators: How UN Organizations Shape the Rules of World Trade for Food Security

Promoting Food Security through the Multilateral Trading System: Assessing the WTO’s Efforts, Identifying its Gaps, and Exploring the Way Forward

The Covid-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine have unveiled the vulnerabilities of global food systems, resulting in food shortages, price spikes, and worsening food security. The World Trade Organization can play a key role in addressing these challenges through its developed body of rules. Its regulatory framework on agriculture, however, is affected by shortcomings and asymmetries that pose challenges to the long-term achievement of secure and sustainable food systems. Despite extensive negotiations among countries in the Committee on Agriculture ahead of the 12th Ministerial Conference, few concrete proposals were made to reform trade rules on agriculture. Additionally, the 12th Ministerial Conference itself failed to produce satisfactory results with respect to food security. The ongoing stalemate in agricultural negotiations since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic indicates the need for a new, holistic approach to address food security at the World Trade Organization, particularly in preparation for the upcoming 13th Ministerial Conference in 2024. This approach should be informed by equity considerations and grounded in the notion of sustainable development and the human right to food. While a comprehensive reform of the Agreement on Agriculture informed by this approach is the ultimate goal, it is unlikely to occur in the short- to medium-term due to disagreement among countries on how to reform the three pillars of the Agreement. Therefore, an incremental approach could be adopted by prioritising issues for which short- to medium-term reforms are more likely to garner consensus, such as sustainable agricultural production, and by employing soft law instruments. The latter favour a flexible approach and promote cooperation and trust among countries.

The International Court of Justice: A Proper Forum for the Balanced Adjudication of Trade-Environment Disputes

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) sometimes adjudicates cases with environmental undertones while hearing trade disputes. Considering that the DSB is mainly responsible for the application of WTO international trade rules to these cases, it is arguable whether the DSB is the most appropriate adjudicatory forum on cases with environmental undertones. The article analyses four cases decided by the DSB: (1) The United States – Restrictions on Imports of Tuna (Tuna-Dolphin I), (2) the United States – Restrictions on Imports of Tuna (Tuna-Dolphin II), (3) the European Communities – Measures Affecting the Approval and Marketing of Biotech Products (Biotech Product’s case), and (4) the United States – Import Prohibition of Certain Shrimp and Shrimp Products (the US Shrimp case). It also analyses four cases with trade and environment considerations decided by the International Court of Justice (ICJ): (1) Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v Japan), (2) Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros (Hungary v Slovakia), (3); Certain Activities carried out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v Nicaragua)/Construction of a road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River (Nicaragua v Costa Rica); and (4) Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v Uruguay). From the analysis, this article finds that the ICJ, rather than the DSB, would be the appropriate arbiter of trade cases with environmental undertones. This article finds that, unlike the DSB, the ICJ has a history of balanced adjudication of cases with trade-environment conflict and appears a better fit to decide cases with elements of trade and environment. As such, this option would guarantee a more neutral avenue for the adjudication of trade-environment conflicts.

Research on the Current Dilemma and Breakthrough Path of China's International Economic and Trade Rules for Elevation Standards

Currently, China has entered a stage of high-quality development. To deepen the new round of high-level opening up to the outside world, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of a domestic institutional system that is connected with international high standard economic and trade rules. This article takes high standard international economic and trade rules as the research object, focusing on the "Three Zero" rules, digital trade, competitive neutrality, intellectual property, government procurement, labor rules, etc. By sorting and summarizing the main rules of high standard economic and trade agreements such as CPTPP, USMCA, DEPA, etc., it analyzes the differences with domestic rule systems and the risks and challenges of China's integration. On this basis, this article proposes countermeasures and suggestions for international economic and trade rules based on elevation standards: firstly, steadily promote high-level opening up to the outside world and enhance the level of trade liberalization and facilitation; Secondly, accelerate the completion of domestic institutional reform and build an open economic system that is compatible with high standard economic and trade rules; Thirdly, actively promote the process of joining CPTPP and DEPA; Fourthly, actively participate in international economic and trade rule negotiations, and deeply participate in rule formulation and reshaping. The research findings of this article will provide useful references for China to further promote high-level opening-up and better participate in the formulation of international economic and trade rules.

Positive Changes and Remaining Shortcomings of Incoterms®2020

With the deepening of reform and opening up, China has become the world's second largest economy. The huge volume of trade highlights the importance of understanding and familiarizing oneself with relevant trade rules. International Commercial Terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce is currently the most widely accepted and authoritative commercial practice in the world. When parties enter into international trade contracts, they often refer to relevant trade terms to regulate some of the rights and obligations of buyers and sellers. Therefore, it is necessary to study this general rule. The International Chamber of Commerce officially launched Incoterms®2020 in January, 2020, which requires both trading parties trade with each other according to it. By analyzing the positive changes and remaining shortcomings of Incoterms®2020 will have a significant impact on both sides of trade. And how to correctly select and apply Incoterms®2020 in the contract based on specific trade scenarios in negotiation and contract negotiation work will enable domestic trade enterprises and practitioners to prepare in advance for the use of the new general rules, thereby reducing the probability of improper use of trade terms and reducing transaction risks and additional costs caused by improper use of trade terms. As is mentioned above, the paper is organized for the purposes of providing reference and inspiration for parties engaged in international commercial activities both domestically and overseas.

The study on the effect of restrictive rosewood trade policies on China’s rosewood import prices

PurposeRosewood, as the most internationally traded endangered species, is subject to a series of restrictive trade policies globally. China has historically been the largest importer of rosewood in the world. The fluctuation of China’s rosewood import prices will have a profound impact on the global rosewood trade pattern. This study, therefore, assessed the impact of restrictive trade policies on China’s rosewood import prices to explore the fluctuation rule of rosewood trade prices under restrictive policies.Design/methodology/approachThe study built a partial equilibrium framework about the formation mechanism of rosewood import price bubbles under supply constraints. On this basis, with China’s daily import prices of major rosewood species, the generalized supremum augmented Dickey–Fuller (GSADF) and backward supremum augmented Dickey–Fuller (BSADF) tests were applied to explore the effect of restrictive trade policies on China’s rosewood import prices.FindingsThe empirical analysis revealed that there were multiple price bubbles for five of the seven rosewood species. The largest bubbles were always created before and after the deployment of supply constraints. The empirical results for the counterfactual examples implied that price bubbles would not have occurred if restrictive rosewood trade policies had not been implemented. The above findings indicated that these measures tended to trigger significant price bubbles in China’s rosewood imports.Originality/valueThe effect of restrictive rosewood trade policies on rosewood trade prices had not yet been explored in previous research studies. This study empirically analyzed the effect of restrictive trade policies on China’s rosewood import prices using econometric models.

WTO E-commerce Negotiations: A Path to the Multilateral Digital Trade Rules

A sustainable digital market hinges on digital trade rules. Yet, these rules, currently dispersed across various Regional Trade Agreements, and the conventional trade agreements of the WTO can barely align with the rapid growth of digital trade. In 2019, the WTO Plurilateral negotiation on E-commerce opened a new avenue for a multilateral digital trade agreement. This study compares three typical templates of digital trade rule within RTAs and analyzes proposals from developed and developing economies in WTO e-commerce negotiation. It seeks to reveal and resolve critical challenges in forming multilateral digital trade agreements, including concept confusion, the digital divide, and differences in regulatory requirements of data. With the opportunities presented by the WTO's E-commerce negotiations, each party shall focus on defining related concepts of digital trade to ensure clarity, incorporate discussions on technical assistance for LDCs to guarantee digital equality, engage proactively in plurilateral negotiations on data flow security and personal information protection, to formulate digital trade rules that address the regulatory concerns of all parties.

The impact of reducing trade barriers on enterprises' pollution emissions: Evidence from China

AbstractTrade and pollution are important issues for people's well‐being. However, less attention has been paid to the study of changes in international trade rules affecting the emission behavior of micro firms. This paper takes the quota restriction of the multi‐fiber arrangement (MFA) lifted as an exogenous impact and explores the impact of trade barriers reduction on pollution emissions of textile industries using the difference‐in‐differences (DID) method. The results show that (1) after the quota restriction of the MFA was lifted, the reduction of trade barriers increased the pollution emissions of the textile industry. The enterprises' SO2 emission intensity with trade barriers reduced increases by 8.1% compared to the industries with trade barriers that have not been reduced. (2) The impact of the trade barrier reduction on enterprises' pollution emissions varies with the type of enterprise ownership, export nature, and enterprise scale. For private enterprises, export enterprises, and large‐scale enterprises, the promotion effect of trade barrier reduction on enterprises' pollution emissions is more significant. (3) The mechanism test results show that the increase in SO2 emission intensity is mainly caused by the increase in the market share of enterprises, the deterioration of energy structure, and the increase in pollution output of enterprises. Therefore, it is critical to reduce enterprises' pollution emissions by maintaining a reasonable market share, optimizing energy structures, and increasing investment in pollution treatment equipment. This study reveals that changes in MFA international trade rules have profoundly influenced the production decision‐making behavior of companies in exporting countries, producing deep implications for enterprise pollution emission behavior and providing empirical evidence and management guidance for developing countries' development of environmentally friendly trade policies and responses to trade‐induced environmental pollution shocks.

The (surprise) return of development policy space in the multilateral trading system: what the WTO Appellate Body blockage means for the developmental state

Since the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) – which led to a dramatic expansion in the scope of global trade rules and made those rules legally binding on states – scholars have highlighted the constraints it has imposed on development policy space. By prohibiting many of the standard tools of the developmental state, the WTO’s rules have been seen as ‘kicking away the ladder’ for developing countries, preventing them from using the trade and industrial policies needed to catch up with more advanced economies. However, since 2019, the US has disabled the WTO’s enforcement mechanism by blocking judicial appointments to the Appellate Body. As a result, this article shows the trade and development landscape has now changed fundamentally: WTO rules – once a powerful constraint on development policy space – are no longer legally enforceable. The article analyzes two recent landmark disputes – Indonesian nickel export restrictions and Indian export subsidies provided through special economic zones – in which developing countries have successfully blocked WTO panel rulings that would force them to repeal developmentalist policies. Ironically, given that the US was originally the dominant force behind the WTO’s anti-developmentalist rules and its binding dispute settlement system, one important consequence of the US Appellate Body blockage has been the re-emergence of development policy space in the multilateral trading system.

The impact of digital trade rule networks on the advancement of global value chains in the Internet era

Abstract In the context of the digital era, global value chains are facing unprecedented reconstruction and upgrading. The development of global trade is influenced by the importance of digital trade in upgrading the status of global value chains. Based on the research of digital trade and global value chain theory, we construct a mechanism model of digital trade to enhance the status of the global value chain and measure digital trade and global value chain by combining the multi-indicator panel hierarchical factor analysis method and the trade value-added accounting method, respectively. Benchmark regression analysis of digital trade and global value chain status indices of major economies is used to explore the impact of digital trade on the status of global value chains. There is a positive correlation between the level of digital trade and the GVC status index, with the GVC status index increasing by 1.6 percentage points for every 1 percentage point increase in the level of digital trade. The level of digital trade has a positive impact on the GVC position of both developed and developing economies. For every 1% increase in the level of digital trade, the GVC position index of developed and developing economies increases by 2.5% and 1.7%, respectively.

Impact of TBT on Marine Products Exports from Kerala in a Benefits and Foibles Settings Based on Primary Data Inferences

Seafood trade is a major item in the global trade of all products. The GATT has been replaced with the WTO for minimizing trade restrictions, but the irony is that in the ambit of WTO newer trade rules have been introduced in the form of TBT and other quality standards. Though it is possible for the Codex committee to introduce new guidelines and rules connected with trade. But the developed countries might change these stipulation as per their self-interest. The study is based on primary data collected from 30 processing-cum-export firms in the three districts of Kerala by using appropriate statistical techniques to endorse the benefits and foibles of the study. The EU approval has helped the firms to minimize rejections citing the implementation of the TBT standards by the importers. There were several factors that had led to these changes, apart from simple demand-supply dynamics and competitiveness. The impact of TBT on seafood exports of Kerala pointed towards strongness of its influence, particularly generating market diversification as its primary consequence of TBT stipulations. Market diversification, though is seemed a temporary solution, value addition and high unit value realisation are inevitable coping up mechanisms with a view to reducing the present high TBT impact index.

RCEP이 아세안 무역에 미치는 영향

Purpose - This research aims to enhance the understanding of Asia’s economic relationships and international economic governance, with a focus on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Specifically, this paper seeks to provide recommendations for South Korea’s participation and effective utilization in RCEP within the Asian region. Also this study suggests the significance of the Rule of Origin in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), and highlights the importance of a cumulative certificate of origin, which refers to a document that verifies the cumulative origin of goods in international trade, applicable to 15 RCEP countries, as compared to existing bilateral FTAs.
 Design/Methodology/Approach - This paper reviews previous studies related to ASEAN and RCEP, discussing the findings and key issues addressed in earlier research efforts. News articles and statistics either of political conflicts or economic implications are utilized in this context.
 Findings - Currently, the global economic governance system, centered around the World Trade Organization (WTO), is facing challenges due to economic and trade friction between major powers, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Regional economic integration bodies like RCEP are taking on a new central role in international trade rules.
 Research Implications - This research implies that the economic relations in the Asia-Pacific region have been steadily strengthening, and this contributes to maintaining stability through economic interdependence even in the presence of political conflict, and there is a room for South Korea to contribute.

Escalating crisis in the governance of the global trading system

Object: The crisis in the governance of the WTO multilateral trading system is manifested in the destruction of the negotiation process and decision-making within the rounds, virtually fruitless Ministerial Conferences and a protracted pause in the implementation of the dispute settlement mechanism. Crises and increased geopolitical tensions provoke national governments to use protectionist policy instruments that violate trade norms and rules adopted within the WTO. There is increasing attention to the problems of global trade from the IMF, the World Bank and the UN. The possibility of creating a new governing body for the global trading system under the auspices of the UN is being discussed. Target. The purpose of the study is to identify the main trends in the development of international trade relations that influence the deepening crisis in the management of the global trading system.Methods: General scientific and special methods were used: the dialectical method of understanding international trade relations; methods of historical and logical analysis; comparative analysis methods; methods of statistical and structural analysis; methods of empirical research, identifying individual parts of an object, identifying cause-and-effect relationships; methods of systems approach.Findings: The influence of modern trends in the field of international trade on the deepening crisis in the management of the global trading system is empirically substantiated, which is manifested in: the deepening disagreements among WTO member countries regarding the agenda and decision-making within the WTO; increasing geopolitical tensions; an increase in the types and number of violations of trade rules adopted in WTO agreements; increased attention to crisis phenomena in international trade by the IMF, World Bank and UNConclusions: Crisis phenomena in trade relations and increased geopolitical tensions provoke national governments to use protectionist policy instruments that violate trade norms and rules adopted within the WTO. The above allows us to speak about the validity and adequacy of the formulated research hypothesis and the achievement of the set goal.