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WTO Members Discuss Possible Future Negotiations on Investment, Competition, Government Procurement
The fourth intersessional meeting of the General Council’s Special Session entrusted with preparing the Third WTO Ministerial Meeting met again last week and presented their views on whether investment, competition policy, government procurement and trade facilitation should be included in a future round of multilateral trade negotiations. This series of Ministerial preparatory meetings in the…
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U.S. to Hold Off on Banana Sanctions - for Now
The EU and U.S. late last week agreed to an interim compromise in its dispute over bananas, averting for the time being a transatlantic trade war. The EU agreed late Friday to request WTO arbitration over the amount of the proposed U.S. retaliatory sanctions regime against the EU, putting U.S. plans for retaliation into suspension…
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EU-U.S. Marinating in WTO Beef Dispute
Readers may think EU-U.S. trade battles are solely concerned with bananas, but another, even beefier battle is ripening - over hormone treated beef. The WTO Appellate Body in February 1998 ruled that the EU ban on beef treated with growth hormones was not based on adequate scientific evidence and so violates international trade rules. The EU…
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East Africa Moves Toward Integration
Leaders from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda met late last month in Arusha, Tanzania where they agreed to a treaty establishing a regional economic community from July 1, 1999. The East African Community (EAC) is intended to help boost foreign investment in the region. The agreement would abolish internal tariffs on nearly all goods except a…
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Mercosur Trade Tensions Rise as Real Falls
Bilateral talks held last week to assuage difficulties between Brazil and Argentina yielded little progress. Brazil’s currency devaluation earlier this month has strained relations within the Mercosur trade block (comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), most especially between Brazil and Argentina. Brazil is Argentina’s main trading partner, absorbing more than 35 percent of…
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Accession Update: China-U.S. Ready for Spring Showdown
An U.S. trade official January 20 said it would take “enormous political will” by both China and the U.S. to make China’s accession to the WTO in 1999 a reality. Robert Cassidy, chief U.S. negotiator for China’s accession to the WTO said agriculture, telecommunications, and financial services remain the major sticking points for the U.S.…
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In Brief
Negotiations continue between Cambodia and Taiwan over the return to Taiwan of nearly 3,000 tonnes of industrial waste delivered to Cambodia in early December. The waste was found to have high mercury content after 3 people died in the village where the waste was dumped. Environmental groups have called Cambodia the most vulnerable of Southeast…
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WTO In Brief
The U.S. last week announced that the Third WTO Ministerial meeting would be held in Seattle, Washington November 30 through December 3, 1999. San Diego, Denver, Honolulu, Detroit, Dallas, and Seattle all vied to host the event. Previous Ministerials were held in Singapore (1996) and Geneva (1998). “Seattle will host WTO talks” The Seattle Times,…
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Events & Resources
• EVENTS For a more complete list of events in coming months, please refer to ICTSD’s web calendar at: http://www.ictsd.org/html/calendar.htm#event WTO Meetings 18-19 February 1999: Committee on Trade and Environment. For information contact Hans-Peter Werner, WTO, tel: (41-22) 739-5286. 22 February 1999: Committee on Rules of Origin. For information contact Luis Ople, WTO, tel: (41-22)…