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WTO Arbitrator Rules Against New EU Tariff Rates For Bananas
On 1 August, a WTO arbitrator ruled against the EU’s proposed most-favoured nation (MFN) tariff rates for banana imports, the latest episode in a longstanding trade dispute on bananas between the EU and five Latin American countries (see BRIDGES Weekly, 6 April 2005). The arbitrator found that the EU’s proposed tariff of 230 euros per tonne…
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CAFTA-DR Narrowly Wins House Vote, Signed Into Law
The Central America Free Trade Agreement-Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR) was signed into law by US President George W. Bush on 2 August. The signature concludes months of intense lobbying and a narrow 217 to 215 vote of approval in the US House of Representatives on 28 June. The Bush Administration sees the passage of CAFTA-DR as…
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WTO Members Look To Autumn After Failure To Reach Preliminary Accords
WTO Members have failed to meet an end-July target date for interim agreements in key negotiating areas of the stalled Doha Round trade talks. A 28 July meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) followed by a General Council (GC) meeting the next day confirmed that a series of last-minute intensive consultations and meetings failed…
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Agriculture: Following July Stalemate, Intense Negotiations Expected in Lead-Up to Hong Kong
Despite intense negotiations in different formats — many of which relied on a group of 14 key countries including the EU, US, Brazil, India — WTO Members did not reach a concrete outcome on agriculture at the end of July. As a result, delegates now have just three months to arrive at agreement on agriculture…
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Services Chair Announces Work Programme For Autumn
Services negotiators from some 14 WTO Member states including the EU, the US, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, Chile, Mexico, India, and Australia met behind the scenes during the week of WTO meetings at the end of the July to hammer out a work programme for the services talks leading up to the Hong Kong Ministerial…
- In Brief
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In Brief
US CONSIDERS BROAD TEXTILE AGREEMENT TO LIMIT CHINESE TEXTILE IMPORTS On 28 June, Republican leaders promised to protect US-based textile jobs from rising Chinese competition in order to secure the support of Representative Robin Hayes (Republican-North Carolina) for the Central America Free Trade Agreement-Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR). The promise allowed the accord to pass in US House…
- WTO in Brief
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WTO In Brief
URUGUAY TO CHALLENGE US RICE SUBSIDIES On 26 July, the government of Uruguay confirmed that it had taken the political decision to challenge US rice subsidies in the WTO. Although it is yet to file a formal complaint at the WTO, the government indicated that it had accepted a petition from domestic rice farmers claiming…
- Events
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Events
EVENTS For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD’s web calendar. If you would like to submit an event, please email us. Coming Up: 4 August - 7 September 4-5 August, Bangkok, Thailand: APEC WORKSHOP ON SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT OF AGRI-FOODS FOR…
- Resources
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Resources
DEVELOPING COUNTRY COORDINATION IN INTERNATIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY STANDARD-SETTING. By Ahmed Abdel Latif. South Centre, June 2005. This working paper focuses on developing country co-ordination in international intellectual property (IP) standard-setting. It underlines the need for developing countries to prioritise co-ordination when participating in international IP rule-making. The paper contends…