Services trade continues to be the most dynamic part of world trade, and service sectors have long been the largest destination of foreign direct investment flows. Countries can reap huge potential gains through greater liberalization of services trade and investment, including increased job...

In his 2012 State of the Union address, President Obama claimed that "over a thousand Americans are working today because we stopped a surge in Chinese tires." The tire tariff case, decided by the president in September 2009, exemplifies his efforts to get China to "play by the rules" and serves...

Public opinion holds that large corporations should pay a higher statutory tax rate than other business firms, and enjoy fewer deductions in computing their taxable income. Americans and their representatives in Congress have long entertained the notion that a corporate check paid to the US...

Legislation to reform Japan Post is again gathering steam in Tokyo. A new postal bill is taking shape, in the form of amendments to the existing Postal Privatization Law dating from the Koizumi era—all put forward under the larger banner of post-earthquake reconstruction finance and the...

Together, US federal and state governments impose almost the highest corporate tax rate found among advanced countries, 39 percent. Only Japan is fractionally higher. The high US rate has adverse consequences—lost investment, lost jobs, and less innovation—and goes a long way to explain...

Trade finance will play a crucial role in President Barack Obama's goal of doubling US exports by 2015. Almost 90 percent of exports depend on trade finance in some form—direct credit, credit insurance, or loan guarantees. Even though official export credit agencies (ECAs), including the US...

The potential benefits to the US economy from Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) are substantial but the United States can enjoy them only if it grants Russia permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status—by repealing application to Russia of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment,...

In 2005, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pushed his landmark bill through the Japanese Diet, aimed at reforming Japan Post, the giant state-owned enterprise that provides postal services and houses two huge financial arms, Japan Post Bank and Japan Post Insurance. The bill envisaged substantial...

The need for US corporate tax reform is blindingly obvious. Conservatives contend that the top corporate tax rate—whether measured in statutory or effective terms—is the second highest in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Liberals argue that the US corporate...

The Doha Round is not the first multilateral negotiation to collapse under the weight of substantive disputes and tactical blunders, but revival this time requires a greater miracle than in the darkest days of the Tokyo or Uruguay Rounds. After near-death moments, those talks concluded with a...