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US Trade Rep Vows Strict Enforcement of Trade Rules
Washington is about to get tougher on countries that violate trade agreements, Ron Kirk, the Obama administration’s top trade official, said in a major policy speech last week. Speaking to a crowd gathered in a steel plant in the industrial city of Pittsburgh on 16 July, Kirk announced several new enforcement initiatives and pledged to…
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NAMA, Ag Talks Pick Up at the WTO, with a Focus on Scheduling
Although an accord in the Doha Round negotiations remains far on the horizon, trade negotiators spent much of last week looking at how to calculate and present future tariff levels for thousands of agricultural and non-agricultural products arising from a multilateral trade agreement. This process, called ‘scheduling’ since it refers to changes to the schedules in…
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Procurement: Taiwan Accedes to GPA, Controversy over ‘Buy American’ Continues
Taiwan formally became a party to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) last week, giving their manufacturers preferential access to a market estimated at US$ 960 billion per year. But as a signatory to the agreement, Taiwan will also be opening up its US$ 21 billion market in government contracts to increased competition from other…
- In Brief
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APEC Trade Ministers Condemn Protectionism
Asia-Pacific trade ministers vowed this week to resist protectionist policies, even those that may not violate world trade rules, and to conclude the WTO’s Doha Round of trade talks in 2010. The biggest gathering of trade ministers so far this year, the meeting, held on 21 and 22 July in Singapore, brought together officials from countries…
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Trade Volumes Continue to Drop, But at Slower Rate, Says OECD
International trade flows continued to drop in the first quarter of 2009, according to a new study by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), but the decline is less drastic than the drop in trade registered in the fourth quarter of 2008. “Compared with the previous quarter, the value of exports and imports of…
- WTO in Brief
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China Sues US over Chicken Import Ban
Beijing and Washington continue to butt heads over a five-year-old US ban on imports of chicken from China. At Monday’s meeting of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), China formally requested a panel to rule on the legality of a US law that bans its poultry imports. The request was blocked by the United States, which…
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Balance is Key for Contingency Measures: WTO
The latest version of the WTO’s annual World Trade Report, which was released on 22 July, focuses on the role of contingency measures - provisions that help countries manage unforeseen circumstances - in international trade agreements. Traditional contingency measures include anti-dumping and other countervailing duties imposed by recipients of illegally subsidised exports, as well as safeguards,…
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Canada and EU Resolve Trade Dispute on GMOs
Canada and the European Union have settled an ongoing trade dispute regarding Brussels’ restrictions on imports of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In exchange for Canada dropping its complaint at the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), the EU agreed to meet bi-annually with Canadian authorities to discuss issues relevant to genetically modified products. The two parties…
- Events
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Events
If you would like to submit an event, please email bridges_weekly@ictsd.ch. Coming up: 23 - 29 July 23-24 July, Montreal, Canada. WORKSHOP ON BEST PRACTICES IN ASSESSING THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY OF BIO-BASED PRODUCTS. This OECD workshop will identify emerging Best Practices for assessing the environmental and economic sustainability of bio-based products. It will compare existing…
- Resources
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Resources
SEEDS OF HUNGER: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS ON SEEDS AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS RESPONSE. 3D Three, July 2009. This new publication examines the effects of intellectual property protection on seeds. The author argues that corporate control of agri-food systems coupled with rapid developments in agricultural biotechnology helped ensure that the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on…