Deteriorating food security status is primarily a local phenomenon resulting from failures in food systems and inadequate incomes. Technological advances in agriculture have led to declining long-term trends in food prices, which have assisted in improving diets. It is projected that in the...

Dumping is one of the most poorly understood and contentious issues in trade policy. The primary reason is that the agreed definitions of dumping are not based on a solid economic foundation. This allows antidumping measures to be used for protectionist ends and to harass trade partners. While...

Debates over proposals to liberalise international trade are often heated and acrimonious. They are often argued, in part, on the basis of projections of market conditions after the proposed liberalisation. These argument are often important in influencing trade policy decisions, yet their...

Multilateral trade negotiations are, by design, becoming increasingly complex. The current degree of complexity limits the ability to assess the effects of a potential agreement and inhibits the transparency needed to reach an agreement. Despite the considerable recent efforts at capacity...

The European Union is attempting to have the protection of geographic indicators strengthened in the WTO. There may be sufficient rents and other benefits available to justify this strategy in the negotiations. To achieve its rent-seeking goals, however, the European Union needs allies at the...

In the economic model that underlies the WTO the only group that can be expected to ask for protection is producers in importing countries. The existing multilateral trade architecture reflects that assumption. Much of the recent criticism of the multilateral trade regime has arisen as a result...

The recent WTO cotton ruling has led to a paradoxical result for the United States, a result that seems a textbook illustration of the "law of unintended consequences". Indeed, during the Uruguay Round negotiations of the present WTO agreements, the United States refused to put agricultural...

The accession of China to the WTO may take place in the near future. While much attention has been given to the effect this will have on international trade and the Chinese economy, less attention has been given to the effect on the WTO. China is a large, developing, transition economy that is...

The NAFTA increasingly looks like a "one-shot" deal with little of the ongoing deepening of economic relationships expected at the time of its negotiation and no provisions for ongoing negotiations. As a result, alternative trading arrangements may provide an opportunity to move the North...

In recent years, governments have negotiated a number of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) that include clauses regarding trade measures that conflict with their WTO obligations. As yet, there has been no formal dispute regarding which obligations should prevail, but the threat of...