Trade Policy In A Changing World Economy

Trade policy issues are no longer solely the concern of a few government specialists and academics. Manufacturers, businesspeople, educators, and government officials must keep abreast of laws and regulations relating to trade, the economic consequences of various trade measures, and current trends in policy, but there have been few coherent sources for such information. Trade Policy in a Changing World Economy provides a clear introduction to complex trade issues, covering theoretical issues of trade policy, the changing nature of American trade policy, the changing nature of American trade policy since World War II, multilateral trade negotiations, and trade strategies. The volume is particularly timely as the world's nations enter a new round of GATT negotiations for the reduction of trade barriers.

Using a unique, question-based format, Global Trade Policy offers accessible coverage of the key questions in trade and policy; it charts the changing policy landscape and evolving institutional arrangements for trade policies, examines trade theory, and provides students with an economic framework to better understand the current issues in national and international trade policy. Uses a unique, question-based format to explore the questions and current debates in international trade policy and their implications Explores trade theory to help guide discussions of trade policy, including traditional theories of inter-industry trade, as well as newer theories of intra-industry and intra-firm trade Examines the national and international effects of widely used policies designed to directly and indirectly affect trade, and considers the evolving institutional arrangements for these Charts the changing policy landscape from traditional trade policies – such as tariffs, quantitative restrictions, and export subsidies – to those including intellectual property rights, labor, the environment, and growth and development policies Covers national as well as global perspectives and their interaction, helping to explain opposing views on trade policy and liberalization Includes applied exercises enabling students to explore open-ended and realistic questions of policy debate, making it ideal for classroom use; an instructor’s manual and a range of other resources are available at www.wiley.com/go/globaltradepolicy

This work analyses the implications for world trade of China's entry into the World Trade Organization. It has taken fifteen long years of dialogue and heated debate and it will take its place among the other members at the end of 2001. This momentous event is relayed by the next WTO Chairman.

"International trade and investment are central to economic prosperity. But new global realities, including rising antitrade sentiment, are challenging long-held policy approaches in these areas. With the global trading system at a critical juncture, now is the time to examine new trade realities and explore appropriate responses. In this volume, the culmination of a comprehensive interdisciplinary research initiative, the Institute for Research on Public Policy has brought together groundbreaking contributions from more than thirty experts in eight different countries. Together, they analyze how longer-term changes and emerging trends in international commerce, technology and economic power are affecting Canada, and what these changes mean for public policy. The authors take an in-depth, firm-level look at Canada's trade, and assess its integration in global value chains. They provide a rigorous analytical framework, supported by new empirical evidence, that will help readers better understand the global economy. Among the topics they examine are the new business models driving the more fragmented and global nature of production; the technological developments that are allowing new traders to expand their reach; and the shift in economic activity toward emerging markets that is dispersing power and raising new challenges for trade negotiations. The editors' conclusion distills the research findings into a forward-looking policy agenda for more inclusive trade." --

Economic theory suggests that countries’ tariff commitments in trade agreements reflect their import market power at the time of negotiations. However, as countries grow, their market power in different sectors can change in unforeseen ways and their commitments may no longer reflect changed economic conditions. Using a newly built dataset of pre-Uruguay Round applied tariffs and relying on the theoretical framework of the terms-of-trade motive for trade agreements, we estimate hypothetical tariff commitments under current levels of market power and compare them with actual tariff commitments. We find that lower tariff commitments required to reflect current economic conditions would amount to a reduction in annual tariff costs of up to $26.4 billion – equivalent to nearly 10% of global tariff costs. Our results reveal substantial heterogeneity between countries and sectors. The sectors with the largest potential tariff cost reductions are vehicles (HS 87) and machinery and appliances (HS 84-85). Product-level tariff reductions would range from 0 to 18.5 percentage points and are on average largest for China. In the past, the GATT/WTO system has updated tariff commitments through periodic rounds of negotiations, and our findings support the revival of the WTO's negotiation function in this area.

The Political Economy of the World Trading System is a comprehensive textbook account of the economics, institutional mechanics and politics of the world trading system. This third edition has been expanded and updated to cover developments in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since its formation, including the Doha Round, presenting the essentials of trade negotiations and the WTO's rules and disciplines. The authors focus in particular on the WTO's role as the primary organisation through which trading nations manage their commercial interactions and the focal point for cooperation on policy responses to the rapidly changing global trading environment. It is the forum in which many features of the globalisation process are considered, and it currently faces an unprecedented set of challenges. The increasing importance of countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa in international trade relations, the revealed preference towards regionalism, intensification of trade conflicts, the role of business groups and NGOs in trade policy formation and negotiations, and pressures for more leadership in an institution threatened by paralysis are examples of issues that are discussed in some detail; all are critical for the operation of the system and for international business in the coming decade. This edition also includes numerous real-world examples to illustrate how the WTO impinges on business, workers and households, written from the perspective of managers and business associations. An insider's view of the institutional history of the WTO allows the authors to use a variety of conceptual tools to analyse the working of the WTO in a non-technical manner. Suggestions for Further Reading at the end of each chapter and an extensive bibliography make the volume suitable both for introductory and postgraduate courses on international economics and business, international relations, and international economic law.

Trade flows and trade policies need to be properly quantified to describe, compare, or follow the evolution of policies between sectors or countries or over time. This is essential to ensure that policy choices are made with an appropriate knowledge of the real conditions. This practical guide introduces the main techniques of trade and trade policy data analysis. It shows how to develop the main indexes used to analyze trade flows, tariff structures, and non-tariff measures. It presents the databases needed to construct these indexes as well as the challenges faced in collecting and processing these data, such as measurement errors or aggregation bias. Written by experts with practical experience in the field, A Practical Guide to Trade Policy Analysis has been developed to contribute to enhance developing countries' capacity to analyze and implement trade policy. It offers a hands-on introduction on how to estimate the distributional effects of trade policies on welfare, in particular on inequality and poverty. The guide is aimed at government experts engaged in trade negotiations, as well as students and researchers involved in trade-related study or research. An accompanying DVD contains data sets and program command files required for the exercises. Copublished by the WTO and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development