The Wisdom of the 1945 State Department:
Progressive Trade Policy is Good for American Foreign Policy

competition, Economy, Environment, WTO

For decades now, the conventional wisdom has led us to believe there is a tension between a progressive trade policy – one that focuses on values beyond returns to capital – and American foreign policy. This is a false tension, however. Far from impeding American foreign policy goals, a progressive trade policy advances them. FDR’s…

The Modern Agreement of Amity and Commerce:
Toward a New Model for Trade Agreements

agriculture, competition, Economy, Environment, Rules of Origin

The Open Society Foundation has published a white paper on a new model for trade agreements. As OSF explains: Around the world, the process of economic globalization is under fire for serving the needs of corporate elites rather than ordinary citizens. But it is important to recall that trade does not have to aggravate inequality.…

NAFTA 2.0: The Environment Chapter

Environment, NAFTA

Although 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,…

The Mad Dash to Deem Trade Agreements “Progressive”

Environment, NAFTA

2018 seems to be the year of the Progressive trade agreement.  The Trans-Pacific Partnership has been renamed the “Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership” (CPTPP).  Canada has floated proposals in the NAFTA renegotiation that it has advertised as progressive. Why? Populists in 2016 reminded us that trade agreements are inherently not progressive.  Economic theory…