Trade Wars Archives

POLITICS: India, Brazil, South Africa Ready to Lead Global South

India, Brazil and South Africa, representing three major democracies in three different corners of the globe, emerged confident in leading South-South cooperation at a two-day meeting of their foreign ministers that ended here Friday.

TRADE: U.S. Sets First Piece of Mideast Trade ‘Mosaic’ in Morocco

By Emad Mekay

Building on a spree of "free" trade deals across the world, the United States has announced an agreement with Morocco that it says could be used as a model for the proposed U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA).

ECONOMY-EAST AFRICA: Long-Awaited Customs Union is Established

By IPS Correspondents

Member states of the East African Community have signed a protocol for establishing a customs union that is expected to boost growth in the region.

U.S.: "Free" Trade Bites Back at its Biggest Booster

By Emad Mekay

Business and its political allies here are scrambling after Monday's news that the European Union (EU) is imposing four billion dollars worth of trade sanctions to retaliate for the U.S. failure to conform with a ruling by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

ECONOMY: WTO Chief Reassures U.S. on Benefits of Free Trade

By Emad Mekay

The chief of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) defended the body's role in the global economy Thursday, and argued for free trade in the United States, a country witnessing an unprecedented debate over the "export" of U.S. jobs overseas.

CARIBBEAN: Boundary Spat Threatens to Delay Common Market

By IPS Correspondents

A dispute over a 14-year-old deal between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela over maritime rights is threatening to damage cordial relations between two Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states as well as torpedo plans to establish a single market in the region.

TRADE: ‘The Ball Is in the Western Court’

By IPS Correspondents

Leaders in the EU and the United States must take "decisive steps" to end protectionism in order to revive the stalled Doha Development Round, a leading official says.

TRADE: U.S.-Australia Deal Could Fuel Protectionism

By Emad Mekay

A "free" trade deal signed last weekend between the United States and Australia does not appear to live up to its name, and could set a negative precedent for countries that want a truly free deal, say analysts here.

TRADE: Commonwealth Begins New WTO Campaign

By Sanjay Suri

Four ministers from Commonwealth countries are undertaking a new campaign from next week to advance WTO talks.

TRADE-EU: African Deal Could Open a Door to WTO

By IPS Correspondents

Development groups are hoping that a regional trade agreement between the EU and developing countries in eastern and southern Africa will kickstart the stalled Doha Development Round.

INDIA-BRAZIL: More Trade to Consolidate South-South Alliance

By Mario Osava

Trade is the cement with which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva aims to consolidate Brazil's alliance with the other heavyweights of the developing South.

COSTA RICA: Activists Pledge to Keep Up Fight Against U.S. Trade Deal

By IPS Correspondents

Trade unions and civil society groups say they will continue to fight the free trade agreement between Costa Rica and the United States, which calls for liberalisation of Costa Rica's state-run telecommunications and insurance monopolies.

TRADE: Reforming WTO Still a Distant Goal

By Emad Mekay

Consensus on how to reform the embattled World Trade Organisation (WTO) will not be easy to achieve, if a survey of experts is any indicator.

TRADE: Pressure Rises for WTO Negotiators

By Gustavo Capdevila

The goal of recovering this year the ground lost in the Doha Round of trade talks is winning support among the 147 member states of the World Trade Organisation, troubled by two years of sluggish negotiations.

U.S.: Support Ebbs for Trade and Farm Subsidies – Poll

By Emad Mekay

Most people in the United States disapprove of their country's trade policy and want leaders to beef up measures to cushion trade's negative effects on workers and the environment, a new survey showed Thursday.

TRADE: Agriculture the Yardstick for Liberalisation

By Gustavo Capdevila

The director-general of the World Trade Organisation rejects the idea of separating agriculture from the rest of the issues in the Doha Round as a means to kick-start the foundering multilateral negotiations.

TRADE: NGOs Take Their Own Message to Davos

By IPS Correspondents

Leading non-governmental organisations and trade unions will be closely monitoring the World Economic Forum, opening in Davos Wednesday, to ensure that they can make their own message clear in what threatens to be a mini trade ministerial.

TRADE: Intensive Care Prescribed for WTO Mini-Meet at Davos

By Gustavo Capdevila

A stay at the tuberculosis sanatorium in the Swiss city of Davos proved beneficial for one of the protagonists of Nobel laureate Thomas Mann's novel, The Magic Mountain.

TRADE-BRAZIL: Shrimp – New Source of Tension with U.S.

By Mario Osava

Brazil's shrimp exports could follow the footsteps of Chile's salmon, a successful fish-farming product that swiftly conquered markets overseas but for which it suffered threats of trade barriers in the United States.

TRADE-CANADA: Numbers Up, Workers Down After 10 Years of NAFTA

By IPS Correspondents

North America's trade deal drove down the real wages of Canadian workers by about 20 percent - if they did not lose their jobs altogether, says globalisation critic Murray Dobbin, author of a critical book about Canada's new prime minister, Paul Martin.

CENTRAL AMERICA: The Threats of Not-So-Free Trade

By IPS Correspondents

Just over a year ago, the United States proposed a free trade treaty to five Central American countries as a means to develop their economies and eradicate poverty by creating jobs in this region of 37 million people.