United States Trade Research Articles

Greening up: the effects of environmental standards in EU and US trade agreements

ABSTRACTCan environmental provisions in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) foster an environmental race to the top? The ways in which different enforcement mechanisms in North–South PTAs affect the implementation of environmental standards in developing countries are examined. It is argued that environmental provisions in European Union (EU) and United States (US) PTAs will be effective in instigating policy change in partner countries, although the timing of the effect will vary significantly. Fines and sanctions in US PTAs incentivize partner countries to reform during the negotiation process. Reform in EU PTA partners is predicted to occur during agreement implementation as a result of the EU’s policy dialogue approach. Illustrative evidence is provided and the hypotheses are tested using statistical estimations of EU and US PTAs with environmental provisions on developing countries’ environmental policy reform.

Dynamic relationship between financial development, energy consumption, trade and greenhouse gas: Comparison of upper middle income countries from Asia, Europe, Africa and America

The paper explores the nexus between greenhouse gas, financial development, energy consumption, trade and urbanization in 34 upper middle income countries from Asia, Europe, Africa and America (South and North) by using panel data from 2001 to 2014. Vector error correction model explored different results for different regions such as the causality of greenhouse gas for Europe and America; financial development for Asia; trade openness for Asia, Europe and America; and urbanization for Africa and America. The causality of greenhouse gas emission was bi-directional with urbanization in America and trade in Europe. The bi-directional causality of trade was observed with financial development in Asia and urbanization in Africa. The generalized method of moment and fully modified ordinary least square explored a direct association of per capita greenhouse gas emission with financial development in Europe; energy consumption in all panels, and renewable energy in Africa and America. But, the relationship of per capita emission was reciprocal with financial development in Asia, Africa and America; renewable energy in Europe; trade in Europe, Africa and America; and urbanization in Asia, Europe and America. The relationship of variables changes from region to region and country to country. A country-based reciprocal effect on per capita greenhouse gas was observed for financial development, renewable energy, trade openness and urbanization for different countries. This paper provides an insight to policy makers to re-structure the financial system, energy usage pattern, trade and urbanization in accordance with the cleaning of environment at country and regional level.

Future Scenarios for Potato Demand, Supply and Trade in South America to 2030

This paper presents estimates for potato demand, supply and trade in South America to the year 2030 according to three scenarios: baseline, high demand and limited supply. The results highlight the importance of Brazil with its massive population and low per capita consumption of potato as a key driver of regional outcomes. According to the baseline and high demand scenarios, improved productivity in Andean countries such as Ecuador and Colombia will influence output and consumption increases in those locations as well. The potential adverse effects of the advent of climate change on the potato sector in more vulnerable growing areas in the region will result in much more modest increases in output in those locations according to the low supply scenario. While domestic potato marketing will continue to expand, foreign trade in potatoes remains small in absolute terms and as a percentage of national and sub-regional output. The findings call attention to opportunities for agribusiness initiatives in input markets as well as for both fresh and processed potato products for human consumption in the decades ahead.

Rule of Law or Rule of Protectionism: Anti-Dumping Practices toward China and the WTO Dispute Settlement System

One of the great benefits coming along with China’s new XWTO membership card is the availability of the WTO dispute settlement proceedings. As former United States Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky declared after U.S. Senate voted to approve the PNTR for China: “China… will join the community governed by the rule of law.”‘ WTO rules are enforced through the WTO Dispute Settlement System (DSS), governed by the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSUy), which is one cornerstone of the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO. After the Uruguay Round, trade dispute settlement, through the DSS, has moved to the center stage of international economic diplomacy, and has been working reasonably well? During the past seven years, the number of disputes submitted to the WTO had considerably increased to over 236 by August 31, 2001, ten times the number under the GATT.

Spatial patterns of landside trade impedance in containerized South American exports

The paper addresses claims implicating higher domestic transportation costs as a significant barrier to Latin America's trade and economic integration - and the region's inadequate transportation infrastructure as the primary cause. The relative “trade space” for U.S.-bound containerized shipments is delineated via reverse spatial interaction modeling. Reconfiguration and reverse calibration of the doubly constrained spatial interaction model is used to derive functional distances between origins and ports of export, as a means of estimating a Trade Impedance Quotient (TIQ) for trade flows at the scale of the continent. Global and local statistics of spatial autocorrelation are then used to analyze the spatial pattern of trade impedance. With this approach, the analysis of containerized flows establishes the existence, extent, location, and spatial distribution of discrepancies in South American landside trade impedance. A large share of trade flows have trade impedance that is disproportionate to distance. Trade impedance at origins is spatially clustered for the total dataset and randomly distributed for commodity segments, and randomly distributed at destinations. Potential focus areas for high trade impedance are identified.

Assessing the Climate Impacts of U.S. Trade Agreements

Meeting the ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement will require the United States and other major greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters to integrate climate change considerations into all relevant areas of economic policy. The United States, however, has conspicuously failed to do so with regard to international trade negotiations. International trade agreements tend to increase GHG emissions due to the economic effects of trade liberalization, including increases in the scale of economic activity and changes in the composition of the affected economies. Trade agreements can also affect climate change in less quantifiable but potentially more significant ways by restricting the ability of governments to implement measures designed to mitigate climate change. Trade and investment rules in U.S. trade agreements have already been invoked to challenge a number of policies relevant to climate change, ranging from renewable energy programs to the Obama administration’s decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. Yet despite the growing evidence of the relevance of trade policy to climate change, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) largely ignores potential climate impacts when preparing environmental reviews of proposed trade agreements as required under Executive Order 13141. This Article explores how the USTR could address climate change within the environmental review process to both assess the potential economically driven and regulatory impacts of proposed trade agreements for climate change and identify options for mitigating those impacts.

A Pragma-Dialectical Approach to Trade Friction Discourse: A Case Study of a Public Letter in Sino-US Trade Friction on Tire Special Safeguard

Based on the analytical framework ofStrategic Maneuvering, this paper analyzes andevaluates the public letter from China Chamberof Commerce of Metals, Minerals & ChemicalsImporters & Exporters (CCCMC) and China RubberIndustry Association (CRIA) to Obama andUnited States Trade Representative (USTR) onJuly 27th, 2009 to reveal the discursivestrategies and their corresponding linguisticrealizations manipulated in tire special safeguardcase. The research results show that, strategicmaneuvering in CCCMC & CRIA’s public lettersis integratedly realized through choice of topicalpotential, catering for audience demands andchoice of presentational devices, which issupported by such argumentative strategies aspresupposition, contrast, appeal to audience'svalues, appeal to authority, vagueness,repetition, statistics, appeal to opponent ’ sconcession, and the like. CCCMC & CRIA’s publicletter has its shortcomings in clarification ofdifference of opinion in the confrontation stage,in choice of starting in the opening stage, inchoice of topics in the argumentation stage andin manipulation of such specific argumentativerhetoricstrategies as ‘contrast’ and ‘statistics’.In view of China’s merits and deficiency, Chinashould: (1) clarify the confrontation, opening,argumentation and concluding stages of theargumentative discourse and flexibly set thedialectic and rhetoric aims of these four stagesaccording to the context; (2) strategicallymaneuver among topical potential, audiencedemand and presentational devices, in line withthe established dialectic and rhetoric aims indifferent argumentative stages; (3) recognizethe institutional context of trade frictiondiscourse and the importance of languageexpression, and cultivate an assertive image.

Commercial and biophysical deficits in South America, 1990–2013

This article analyses the Physical Trade Balances (PTB) of five South American economies since 1990. Both exports and imports (measured in tonnes) increased but exports were consistently much larger than imports. Such large Physical Trade Deficits (PTD) persisted throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Export prices of primary goods increased but by 2013, export prices had declined and the exports could no longer pay for imports. Countries started to show commercial trade deficits (in money terms). These findings hold for all the South American countries analysed and they show that the optimism generated by the improving terms of trade in South America at the beginning of the 21st century was premature. First, there were PTDs even in the boom years; second, the deterioration in the terms of trade after 2012 was accompanied by a counterproductive deficit in the monetary trade balance. It is counterproductive because, in principle, it leads to greater external debts or to outflows of currency reserves. It can also create pressure to increase physical exports. We argue that deficits in the monetary trade balances tend to be compensated by increasing the deficit in the PTB, which can lead to enhanced environmental pressures and therefore to local protests.

Narrowing borders, expanding trade in Latin America

Time matters for trade and its importance is likely to grow because of increasingly segmented production chains across countries and lean retailing, among other reasons.* Especially critical is the effectiveness of public entities that affect the transit times between origins and destinations of goods.

An analysis of United States on Dow Jones Sustainability Index

This paper examines the effect of various economic and financial indicators on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) returns. In particular, four explanatory variables are employed, namely United States (US) 10 Year bond value, gold price, Trade Weighted U.S. Dollar Index and Consumer Sentiment Index calculated by Michigan University. A generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model is applied over DJSI United States which incorporates socially responsible companies for the period August, 1999 to May, 2016 using monthly data. The empirical results indicate that the consumer sentiment and the bond market exert positive impact on the DJSI US, whereas the gold and currency market affects it negatively. In addition, the structural analysis of DJSI US returns volatility showed that the US trade balance has a stabilizing effect on the conditional variance of the DJSI US return series. JEL Classification: G1, F2, Q40, M21. Keywords: Dow Jones Sustainability Index, bond value, gold, exchange rate, consumer sentiment

Wnt Drug Discovery: Weaving Through the Screens, Patents and Clinical Trials.

The Wnt signaling pathway is intricately involved in many aspects of development and is the root cause of an increasing number of diseases. For example, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death in the industrialized world and aberration of Wnt signaling within the colonic stem cell is the cause of more than 90% of these cancers. Despite our advances in successfully targeting other pathways, such as Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2), there are no clinically relevant therapies available for Wnt-related diseases. Here, we investigated where research activities are focused with respect to Wnt signaling modulators by searching the United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) for patents and patent applications related to Wnt modulators and compared this to clinical trials focusing on Wnt modulation. We found that while the transition of intellectual property surrounding the Wnt ligand-receptor interface to clinical trials is robust, this is not true for specific inhibitors of β-catenin, which is constitutively active in many cancers. Considering the ubiquitous use of the synthetic T-cell Factor/Lymphoid Enhancer Factor (TCF/Lef) reporter system and its success in identifying novel modulators in vitro, we speculate that this model of drug discovery does not capture the complexity of in vivo Wnt signaling that may be required if we are to successfully target the Wnt pathway in the clinic. Notwithstanding, increasingly more complex models are being developed, which may not be high throughput, but more pragmatic in our pursuit to control Wnt signaling.

Description of the nest and eggs of the Great-billed Seed-Finch (Sporophila maximiliani)

ABSTRACT Seed-finches are Neotropical passerines highly specialized in the consumption of grass seeds. Most species are endangered because of the conversion of native grasslands into agricultural fields, and they are among the main victims of trapping for the illegal cage-bird trade in South America. The Great-billed Seed-Finch (Sporophila maximiliani) is very rare, with few records in the wild in the last 50 years. Here, we present the first descriptions for nest, eggs, and nesting habitat of the Great-billed Seed-Finch from Mato Grosso state, Brazil. We found the nests (two) on 18 December 2014 and on 8 January 2015. They were located in a seasonally flooded lowland area composed predominantly of herbaceous vegetation and sparse shrubs, mainly Curatella sp. Nests were built in 5 days, and only females participated in nest construction and incubation. Nests were cup-shaped made mainly of stems and tendrils of vines, and their measurements were: outside diameter (85.0, 93.0 mm); inside diameter (55.0, 60....

An integrated indicator system for patent portfolios: evidence from the telecommunication manufacturing industry

ABSTRACTAgainst the background of ‘patent portfolio races’ in industries such as telecommunications, this paper proposes a set of patent portfolio indicators to measure patents’ scale and diversity. This indicator system is used in a time series to analyse the patenting activity and technology strategy of the world’s top 20 firms in the telecommunication manufacturing industry, based on a large data set from United States Patent and Trade Office. In combination with composite and relative measures, we identify the firms’ comparative positions in patenting activity. The paper adds to the ongoing discussion about, and enriches the theory of, patent portfolios.

Contesting Trade in Central America: Market Reform and Resistance. By Rose J. Spalding. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014.

Contesting Trade in Central America: Market Reform and Resistance. By Rose J. Spalding. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014.

Chronicles of the Doha Wars: The Battle of Nairobi – Appraisal of the Tenth WTO Ministerial

When Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, opened the first ever World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference to be held on African soil, he knew that the Doha Development Agenda (DDA)1 ceremoniously agreed upon in 2001, and of which his country had been an ardent promoter, would be put under the guillotine. So much was made abundantly clear by Michael Froman, the United States of America Trade Representative (USTR), in an op-ed published in the Financial Times just two days prior to the Conference. Froman argued that "Doha was designed in a different era, for a different era, and much has changed since", and that "it is time for the world to free itself of the strictures of Doha’, before concluding presciently that ‘Nairobi will mark the end of an era". The Conference of 2015 closed with a Ministerial Declaration and the ‘Nairobi Package’ comprising a series of six Ministerial Decisions on agriculture, cotton and issues related to least developed countries (LDCs). WTO’s Director-General, Roberto Azevêdo, concluded with optimism that, similar to two years ago in Bali, the WTO had once again delivered ‘major, multilaterally-negotiated outcomes’ at Nairobi. All these things will be analyzed in the following lines.

Declining Racial Stratification in Marriage Choices? Trends in Black/White Status Exchange in the United States, 1980 to 2010

The status exchange hypothesis suggests that partners in black/white marriages in the United States trade racial for educational status, indicating strong hierarchical barriers between racial groups. The authors examine trends in status exchange in black/white marriages and cohabitations between 1980 and 2010, a period during which these unions increased from 0.3 percent to 1.5 percent of all young couples. The authors find that status exchange between black men and white women did not decline among either marriages or cohabitations, even as interracial unions became more prevalent. The authors also distinguish two factors driving exchange: (1) the growing probability of marrying a white person as educational attainment increases for both blacks and whites (educational boundaries) and (2) a direct trade of race-by-education between partners (dyadic exchange). Although the theoretical interpretation of exchange has focused on the latter factor, the authors show that status exchange largely emerges from the former.

Do the Chinese Measures of Blocking and Filtering American Internet Search Engines Violate the China's GATT and GATS Obligations?

Whether the China’s practice of restricting the Internet freedom is violating China’s WTO obligations, i.e., what the People’s Republic of China agreed to with respect to its Internet measures when it acceded to the World Trade Organization in December of 2001, is an issue that continues to rattle international relations – especially between China and the United States. In October 2011, the United States Trade Representatives initiated a questionnaire to China seeking information regarding the China’s Internet restrictions. This measure had long been sought by the California First Amendment Coalition, organization representing a group of American Internet service providers. The CFAC would like to see the USTR bringing an action in the WTO Dispute Settlement Body against China. Whether the USTR could show that China has violated its obligations under the WTO Agreement, however, is not clear. This note attempts to evaluate whether the China’s Internet measures are violating its WTO obligations.

International Institutions and Interest Mobilization: The WTO and Lobbying in EU and US Trade Policy

What affects lobbying patterns in trade policymaking? Existing explanations focus mainly on economic determinants, like the rise of intra-industry trade. We argue that the international trade institutions of the World Trade Organization (WTO) themselves are also key for understanding which type of interest mobilization is likely to arise. We contend that the institutional setting of issue-linkage based trade negotiations creates incentives for firms to work through broad sector-wide lobbying organizations, while judicial adjudication and enforcement in WTO dispute settlement stimulates de-linkage, leading to product-specific interest mobilization. We illustrate how these two arguments can explain the coexistence of both sector-wide and product-specific lobbying in the contemporary international trade regime. We provide evidence on interest mobilization for United States (US) and European Union (EU) initiated WTO disputes, and on EU and US domestic interest organizations that mobilize during multilateral trade rounds or are present at WTO ministerial conferences.

Challenging the Use of Special 301 against Measures Promoting Access to Medicines: Options Under the WTO Agreements

In April 2014, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) listed India on its Special 301 Priority Watch List, following India’s refusal to grant a patent over the leukaemia drug Gleevec and its compulsory licensing of the cancer drug Nexavar. USTR also undertook an out-of-cycle review of India’s intellectual property laws, to determine whether or not to upgrade India to the more serious Priority Foreign Country status, which would potentially trigger retaliation through withdrawal of Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefits. In response, India threatened to take the USA to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Dispute Settlement Body over Special 301. This article examines whether such a challenge to Special 301 in the WTO would succeed, both in the India context and more generally. It takes three lines of inquiry. The first is whether or not the Special 301 procedure violates the procedural obligations under Article 23 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU). The second is whether or not any related withdrawal of GSP benefits would be in line with the Enabling Clause. Finally, the article examines whether there are substantive limitations on intellectual property protections under TRIPS which could be used to challenge the validity of Special 301. It concludes that some, but not all, aspects of Special 301 may be inconsistent with WTO obligations.

Focus: Latin America's trade union landscape

Focus: Latin America's trade union landscape