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Senior Officials Discuss Doha 'Road-Map'
Senior negotiators from major trading nations met in Geneva this week to try to agree on next steps for the troubled Doha Round of trade talks, following a ministerial meeting in Delhi where governments agreed to re-energise negotiations with the aim of concluding the round in 2010 (see Bridges Weekly, 9 September 2009, http://ictsd.net/i/news/bridgesweekly/54723/). However,…
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US Tyre Tariffs Spark Spat with China
In his first major trade move since taking office in January, US President Barack Obama announced on Friday that the US would impose 35 percent tariffs on Chinese tyres in a bid to shield domestic producers from what the White House Press Secretary called an ‘exponential’ increase in imports of the products. The move triggered a…
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Trade Still Alive, but Competition at Risk: WTO, OECD, UNCTAD
Despite some ‘slippage’, the world’s leading economies have largely stuck to pledges to refrain from creating new obstacles to trade and investment amidst the worst financial crisis in decades, the heads of the WTO, the OECD, and UNCTAD said this week. But “growing unemployment due to the crisis will continue to fuel protectionist pressures for the…
- In Brief
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EU Releases Communication on Enhanced IP Enforcement for its Internal Market
The European Commission recently adopted new practical, non-legislative measures to complement the existing internal legal framework on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRs). The communication - “Enhancing the enforcement of intellectual property rights in the internal market” - is meant to promote collaboration between the private sector, national authorities and consumers.…
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US Debates Continue on FTAs with Colombia, South Korea
United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk has received more than 500 responses to his request for comments from stakeholders concerning pending free trade agreements with Colombia and South Korea, the USTR said on Tuesday. “We will carefully review the comments received to help us determine how best to move forward with these FTAs,” said Kirk…
- WTO in Brief
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WTO Issues Interim Ruling in Boeing-Airbus Dispute
The WTO has issued an interim report in a long-running spat between the US and the EU over airline subsidies, media sources reported last week. The confidential ruling, which was said to have largely found in favour of Washington, could impact a pending US military deal for refuelling tankers worth an estimated US$ 35 billion. The…
- Events
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Events
16-18 September, Cartagena, Colombia. LATIN AMERICAN FIFTH REGIONAL MEETING ON SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION. This is a regional meeting to report the progress achieved on Sustainable Consumption and Production in Latin America and the Caribbean with regard to the priorities identified by the Council of Experts and ratified by Decision 10 of the Forum of…
- Resources
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Resources
THE RISE OF BILATERALISM: COMPARING AMERICAN, EUROPEAN AND ASIAN APPROACHES TO PREFERENTIAL TRADE AGREEMENTS. By Kenneth Heydon and Stephen Woolcock. United Nations University Press, 2009. As multilateral negotiations become increasingly complex and protracted, preferential trade agreements have become the centrepiece of trade diplomacy, pushing beyond tariffs into deep integration and beyond regionalism…