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Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
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Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
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September 2, 2009Time to Deliver on Duty-Free, Quota-Free Market Access for the World’s Poorest CountriesPosted by Randall Soderquist in Global Development, Trade Tags: G20, Millennium Development Goals, Trade, World Trade OrganizationThis blog entry also appeared on the Huffington Post. Leaders of the world’s richest nations have repeatedly pledged to offer the world’s poorest countries duty-free, quota-free (DFQF) access to their markets. Such access is one of the most powerful tools that high-income countries have to help poor countries to help themselves. The upcoming G-20 summit in Pittsburgh is an opportunity for the world’s leaders to finally deliver on this promise. Read More… 5 Comments »August 13, 2009In Kenya, Questions and Suggestions on AGOAPosted by Randall Soderquist in Global Development, Regions, Trade Tags: AGOA, Trade, USTR, World Trade OrganizationLast week Secretary of State Clinton, U.S. Trade Representative Kirk, Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack, and other U.S. government officials were in Nairobi at the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum, making new and improved promises about the commitment of the United States to African development. I was in Nairobi last week too to moderate our fifth consultation meeting for the CGD Global Trade Preference Reform Working Group. Previous consultations were held in Jaipur, Delhi, Dhaka, and London, but the AGOA Forum offered a unique opportunity to discuss global trade preference program reform and coordination – an initiative specifically designed to assist lesser-developed countries expand exports and increase opportunities for economic growth – with individuals from the public, private, and non-profit sectors in Africa. Read More… 3 Comments »April 2, 2009Will G-20 Back Anti-Protectionist Pledges with Action This Time?Posted by Cindy Prieto in Global Development, Globalization, Trade Tags: G20, IMF, Protectionism, Trade, World Trade OrganizationThe outcome of today’s G20 summit has become even more critical for developing countries as the World Bank revised the 2009 forecast for GDP growth in the developing world to 2.1 percent down from 5.8 percent in 2008. But a draft copy of the G20 communiqué published by the Financial Times could go farther in its commitment to help the world’s most vulnerable countries. While the draft heeds Nancy Birdsall’s advice to increase resources for developing countries through the IMF and MDBs, the communiqué leaves more to be desired on one of the most important avenues through which this crisis is already affecting the developing world: trade protectionism. Read More… Comment »March 27, 2009Do We Need a “Crisis Round” of Trade Talks? (Or Just Faster Dispute Settlement?)Posted by Kimberly Ann Elliott in Food & Agriculture, Global Development, Trade Tags: Protectionism, Trade, USTR, World Trade OrganizationWould a “Crisis Round” of trade talks launched at the London Summit next week be a useful mechanism for averting a further beggar-thy-neighbor protectionism? My colleague Arvind Subramanian and his frequent co-author, World Bank economist Aaditya Mattoo, think so. They argued for such a move in an interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal Asia earlier this week (A Crisis Calls for a Crisis Round): Read More… 2 Comments »March 20, 2009NGO Leaders and Business Community Urge Obama and Congress to Act on Trade & Development Agenda — with a Little Help from CGDPosted by Randall Soderquist in Globalization, Trade Tags: Doha, On the Hill, Ron Kirk, Trade, World Trade Organization
Concern about “backsliding” on trade – governments moving away from previous commitments to cut tariffs and subsidies – grew stronger. Government officials from other countries contacted us and asked what would come next on U.S. trade policy, and, significantly, whether CGD would play an active role in doing new research and creating viable policy alternatives that would benefit developing countries in a changing global economy. This led us to consider the possibility that we might influence the Obama Administration trade agenda if we inserted innovative policy ideas in a constructive way. To this end, we invited approximately 15 representatives from the development, business, and faith-based communities to CGD and carefully considered if there were areas where we could find common interest and pursue collective action. The meeting was remarkably congenial and productive. There were far more areas of agreement than disagreement, although some controversial issues, such as whether and how to address labor and environmental concerns in trade agreements (see the May 10th Agreement), were left firmly on the backburner. The group decided to draft a carefully balanced letter to President Obama and key Congressional leaders that outlines the critical importance of global trade as a mechanism for poverty alleviation, economic growth, and political stability. That letter, released today, urges the Administration and Congress to enact policies that promote global economic growth and increase international trade and investment flows. It says, in part:
The timing of this letter could not be better. If crisis creates the conditions for change, now is the time for action. Recent reports from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund reinforce the fact that the global economy is in an increasingly precarious position, with developing countries in particular suffering potentially irreversible damage from declining exports, lowering commodity prices, decreasing investment, and repatriating capital. The long term consequences of this economic vortex have yet to be seen. As social spending collapses in developing countries, and as education and healthcare become unaffordable, it is obvious that impacts will worsen. Already it is likely that the crisis will undermine decades of the admittedly insufficient progress that has been made on development, and will most certainly lead to social unrest and political instability. Trade policy thus becomes a national security issue. It is encouraging that that USTR-designate Ron Kirk has been confirmed by the Senate and will be sworn into office today by Vice-President Joe Biden. The USTR has released a 2009 Trade Agenda, but much remains to be done in terms of defining concrete policy proposals. This joint letter not only sends a strong message about what U.S. priorities should be on trade, but also provides tangible evidence that new coalitions on trade are possible. CGD will be extremely active in this effort. Comment »July 2, 2008President Sarkozy’s Compassion for the Poor and HungryPosted by Kimberly Ann Elliott in Agriculture, Food & Agriculture, Food Crisis, Globalization, Migration and Labor Mobility, News, Rural Development, Trade, World Trade Organization Tags: Food Crisis, Rural Development, World Trade OrganizationA report in the Financial Times by John Thornhill leads with a remarkable quote from French President Nicolas Sarkozy warning the EU that he would block a proposed World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on agriculture that would reduce European production incentives: Comment »May 19, 2008Kudos to Tokyo and Washington on Rice Sales — Et Tu, Thailand and India?Posted by Peter Timmer in Agriculture, Food & Agriculture, Food Crisis, Migration and Labor Mobility, News, Trade, World Trade Organization Tags: Agriculture, Food Crisis, World Trade OrganizationThis post is joint with Tom Slayton, a rice trade expert and former editor of The Rice Trader 4 Comments »April 3, 2008Bob Zoellick is Leading the World Bank in the Right Direction. Will Bank Staff and Shareholders Follow?Posted by Nancy Birdsall in Economic Development, Economic Growth, Food Aid, Global Warming, Globalization, Migration and Labor Mobility, News, Trade, World Bank, World Trade Organization Tags: Food Aid, World Bank, World Trade Organization
2 Comments »October 12, 2007Debapriya Bhattacharya, Former CGD Visiting Fellow, Now Bangladesh Representative At WTOPosted by Kimberly Ann Elliott in Asia, Global Education, World Trade Organization Tags: World Trade Organization
1 Comment »July 30, 2007House Passes Farm Bill, Thumbs Its Nose at Poorest Trading Partners and WTOPosted by Kimberly Ann Elliott in Agriculture, Food & Agriculture, Rural Development, World Trade Organization Tags: Rural Development, World Trade OrganizationFor poor developing country farmers and their advocates, the farm bill that passed the House of Representatives on Friday could hardly be worse news. Dissatisfaction with existing farm legislation is widespread and, with commodity prices high, it seemed as though a real opportunity existed to both reform America’s costly and inequitable farm policy and give the stalled Doha Round of trade negotiations a boost. But those hopes have been at least temporarily dashed. (See Washington Post article and House Committee on Agriculture website for more on House passage of the farm bill.) 1 Comment »August 17, 2006Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific Region?Posted by Nancy Birdsall in Asia, Global Education, Globalization, News, Trade, World Trade Organization Tags: World Trade OrganizationFred Bergsten of Institute for International Economics is pushing for creation of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific Region (FTAAP) — a plan B to get the world back on track given the faltering Doha Round (See today’s Financial Times column.) An FTAAP with the U.S., Japan, and China and the 18 other current members of APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group) constitute half the world economy. 2 Comments »July 24, 2006Where is the U.S. Leadership on Trade?Posted by Kimberly Ann Elliott in News, Trade, World Trade Organization Tags: World Trade OrganizationWhile there is no particular reason that U.S. negotiators should make the first move to revive the Doha Round trade negotiations–Washington’s sins are not the greatest nor its offer the weakest–the U.S. should nonetheless lead and put the spotlight back where it belongs–on the E.U. and India. Given the ease with which the U.S. could improve its offer, it is nearly incomprehensible that the Americans chose instead to let the talks collapse in Geneva this past weekend. Comment »July 3, 2006WTO: Lack of leadership dooms trade talks in GenevaPosted by Kimberly Ann Elliott in News, Trade, World Trade Organization Tags: World Trade OrganizationIn a hugely disappointing outcome, International trade negotiators made so little progress in Geneva this past weekend that they gave up and went home early. The lack of leadership was stunning and blame can be spread widely. Despite the great gains that India has reaped in recent years from globalization, its trade negotiator decided that a World Cup game was more important than arriving at a key negotiating session on time. European Union negotiators indicated a willingness to accept larger average tariff cuts on farm products, but insisted on extensive exceptions for “sensitive” products that would substantially undercut the potential for increased access to its markets. 2 Comments » |
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In early 2009, before the inauguration of President Obama, Kim Elliott and I decided it was time to think seriously and coherently about the future direction of U.S. trade policy, especially as it relates to developing countries. The collapse of the Doha Round was one of the critical motivating factors, as it was now clear to all involved that there was no obvious trajectory for the international trading system. There was also talk among key trade leaders of a complete freeze on trade agreements of any type, leading one to wonder what the next step might be for the United States and whether we would maintain a leadership role on trade.
World Bank president Bob Zoellick announced several striking 
