International Trade

What is international trade?imports, exportsforeign investmentWTO, NAFTA, EUand, potentially, everything else

Trade termsDumping -- selling imports into a domestic market at a price lower than the cost of production in the country of originless than fair value (LTFV)Tariff --A fee (or duty) levied upon goods transported from one customs area to another Trade subsidies -- government payments or other benefits to producers that make their prices unfairly lowCountervailing duties extra fee levied by importing country to counter unfair subsidy

Legal frameworkmost countries members of WTOmany countries also have bilateral or regional trade agreementstrade agreements generally have dispute resolution mechanismstrade obligations may affect/supplant national law

WTO historyBegan in 1995, built on GATTGATT began in 1947. GATT intended as tariff-cutting agreement.Rounds are series of negotiations intended to cut tariffs.

3 main principles of GATT/WTOconvert all trade barriers to tariffstransparenteasier to administer most-favored-nation (MFN) any favorable trade treatment must be given to all members national treatmentimports treated equally with domestic

WTO: 6 componentstrade in goods 1994 GATT agreement all boundproduct standards all boundGATS trade in servicesnot all boundTRIPs all boundplurilateral agreements (e.g., govt procurement) some bounddispute resolution all bound

WTO structureMinisterial Body (meets every 2 years; e.g., Seattle)General Council main governing bodySecretariat permanent professional staff

WTO dispute resolution processrequest for consultations = complaintpanelappellate body (appeals routine)loser must bring itself into complianceif not, winner can retaliate

Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs); Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)permitted by WTO multilateral or bilateral important because of stalled progress on Doha roundUS aggressively pursuing

NAFTAearlier CFTA (US-Canada)decreases, then removes tariffsAnti-dumping, countervailing duty disputes (Chapter 19) arbitration before bi-national panelsinvestment disputes (Chapter 11)ICSID arbitration, UNCITRAL

Researching WTO lawJeanne Rehbergs guide:http://www.law.nyu.edu/library/research/researchguides/wtogattresearch/index.htmASILs Elec. Res. Guidetreatises for background, concepts, detailsWTO siteUSTR site for US perspective

WTO sitedocuments from 1995 (selected older documents)treatiesWTO Analytical Index Guide to WTO Law and Practice (travaux and interpretation)reports, news, statistics

WTO Analytical Index

WTO Analytical Indexfind decisions by treaty article

WTO site: Documents Onlineaccessible from Trade Topics with drop-down menusbrowse or searchdocument symbol: e.g., G/SCM/59/Add.2 document number: e.g., 04-4872

WorldTradeLaw.netpart free, part subscriptionsearch engine for WTO docseasier to download WTO docsexpert commentary, index

TradeLawGuidecitator for WTO panel and AB decisionsinterprets key termsWTO jurisprudence by treaty, article

Tariff schedulesUS Harmonized Tariff ScheduleUS International Trade Commission siteWTO site schedule of concessionsnational trade department sites

Other resourcesWestlaw, LexisWTO panel and AB decisionsNAFTA decisionstreatiesGATT documents Stanford http://gatt.stanford.edu/bin/search/simpleBNAs International Trade Reporter

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