Typically, trade agreement marketers rely on gains to GDP to explain why the agreements are worth doing. (Of course, in 2016 the U.S. International Trade Commission concluded that all these bilateral and regional trade agreements combined added a mere .2% per year to GDP.) Herein lies the conundrum: the existing NAFTA already provides duty-free treatment among…
DetailsOn June 6, Inside Cybersecurity had a webinar of government and American industry voices to discuss Huawei, 5G, and cybersecurity. The panelists’ main concern is the myriad ways hostile actors, including state actors, can exploit supply chains to engage in nefarious activities. Huawei, which has a prominent position in the race to 5G thanks to Chinese government…
DetailsWho said the following: many . . . have focused in particular on enforcement of labor and environmental provisions . . . . I am pleased that we obtained strong provisions in those areas, and I agree that they should be fully and effectively enforced so that our companies can compete based on…
DetailsIn the last blog, we talked about the SOE chapter. It lays out some interesting rules on anticompetitive behavior; but those rules only apply to state-owned enterprises. If the goal is to discipline state capitalism, that chapter won’t do it. But because it has such detailed rules on anticompetitive behavior, it is worth comparing to…
DetailsMuch has been made of the TPP and NAFTA chapters on state-owned enterprises (SOEs). They are supposed to be forward-looking provisions that will put a dent in state capitalism. But the premise is wrong, and so the response is wrong. The premise of the argument is that state capitalism is executed through SOEs. In some…
DetailsAccording to Politico, a “coalition of free-market advocacy, business and nonprofit groups is urging the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee to press forward on new legislation curbing the president’s tariff authority.” Ah, the siren song of the free market. But does anyone really think the global trading system is characterized by “free” markets? A…
DetailsDonald Trump campaigned in part on the flaws in the auto rules of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Much of his renegotiation of NAFTA has focused on tightening up those rules. As this paper explains, he can rightly claim some credit for strengthening them. But there are nevertheless questions about whether those rules will work the way…
DetailsOne of the goals of this blog has been to facilitate an understanding of the backlash against the global trading system. That system is characterized by a broad set of rules that are complex — opaque, even — with which few are familiar, even many of those staunchly defending the status quo. An improved understanding…
DetailsAlthough the Trump Administration is no friend of environmental groups, the current U.S. Trade Representative has, as we have noted before, enforced environmental provisions under the U.S-Peru trade agreement. In that context, it is not as surprising as it might otherwise be that the NAFTA 2.0 environmental chapter contains new, positive provisions. However, on the whole,…
DetailsTo those outside the trade world, it might seem like a foregone conclusion that the Trump Administration’s renegotiation of NAFTA would contain provisions hostile to, rather than supportive of, organized labor. However, trade has been the anomaly in this Administration. As we have pointed out before, the President has consistently borrowed Democratic talking points on…
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