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International Trade

What is international trade?

imports, exports
foreign investment
WTO, NAFTA, EU
and, potentially, everything else

Trade terms

Dumping -- 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 low
Countervailing duties extra fee levied by
importing country to counter unfair subsidy

Legal framework

most countries members of WTO


many countries also have bilateral
or regional trade agreements
trade agreements generally have
dispute resolution mechanisms
trade obligations may
affect/supplant national law

WTO history

Began in 1995, built on GATT


GATT began in 1947.
GATT intended as tariff-cutting
agreement.
Rounds are series of negotiations
intended to cut tariffs.

3 main principles of GATT/WTO

convert all trade barriers to tariffs


transparent
easier

to administer

most-favored-nation (MFN)
any

favorable trade treatment must be


given to all members

national treatment
imports

treated equally with domestic

WTO: 6 components

trade in goods 1994 GATT


agreement all bound
product standards all bound
GATS trade in servicesnot all
bound
TRIPs all bound
plurilateral agreements (e.g., govt
procurement) some bound
dispute resolution all bound

WTO structure

Ministerial Body (meets every 2


years; e.g., Seattle)
General Council main governing
body
Secretariat permanent professional
staff

WTO dispute resolution process

request for consultations =


complaint
panel
appellate body (appeals routine)
loser must bring itself into
compliance
if 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 round
US aggressively pursuing

NAFTA

earlier CFTA (US-Canada)


decreases, then removes tariffs
Anti-dumping, countervailing duty
disputes (Chapter 19) arbitration
before bi-national panels
investment disputes (Chapter 11)
ICSID arbitration, UNCITRAL

Researching WTO law

Jeanne Rehbergs guide:


http://www.law.nyu.edu/library/research
/researchguides/wtogattresearch/index.h
tm

ASILs Elec. Res. Guide


treatises for background, concepts,
details
WTO site
USTR site for US perspective

WTO site

documents from 1995 (selected


older documents)
treaties
WTO 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 Online

accessible from Trade Topics with


drop-down menus
browse or search
document symbol: e.g.,
G/SCM/59/Add.2
document number: e.g., 04-4872

WorldTradeLaw.net

part free, part subscription


search engine for WTO docs
easier to download WTO docs
expert commentary, index

TradeLawGuide

citator for WTO panel and AB


decisions
interprets key terms
WTO jurisprudence by treaty, article

Tariff schedules

US Harmonized Tariff Schedule


US

International Trade Commission site

WTO site schedule of concessions


national trade department sites

Other resources

Westlaw, Lexis
WTO

panel and AB decisions


NAFTA decisions
treaties

GATT documents Stanford


http://gatt.stanford.edu/bin/search
/simple
BNAs International Trade Reporter

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