The EU has included human rights clauses in its international trade and cooperation agreements since the early 1990s. These clauses permit a party to a trade agreement to adopt ‘appropriate measures' in the event that the other party violates human rights or democratic principles. This study...

This paper analyzes the main features of Chilean trade and investment treaties, examining if there is a Chilean pattern in the regulation of trade and investment flows or if it is influenced by agreements signed by Chile with developed countries. The article also examines if there are...

When President Donald Trump notified the other signatory countries to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that the United States did not intend to become party to the agreement, among the thirty chapters of text left on the cutting floor was a chapter on labor. The TPP labor chapter, while...

This article discusses the fast track procedure and its recent use in the context of environmental and labor issues. The procedure, which allows the President to negotiate international trade agreements and bypass Congressional amendments, emerged in 1997 as an element of a larger debate...

This paper analyzes whether Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) signed between the United States and Latin American countries during the last decade produced higher enforcement of labor regulations. The paper computes before-after estimates of the effect of FTAs on labor inspections and exploits...

Several major trade agreements in recent years have included a provision that addresses labor standards. Other trade agreements that are now in the discussion stage are considering incorporating labor standards as an integral part of the final agreement. The goals of such agreements are noble -...

This paper analyzes whether Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) signed between the United States and Latin American countries during the last decade produced higher enforcement of labor regulations. The paper computes before-after estimates of the effect of FTAs on labor inspections and exploits...

Economic theory has made considerable progress in explaining why sovereign countries cooperate in trade. Central to most theories of trade cooperation are issues of self-enforcement: The threat of reprisal by an aggrieved party maintains the initial balance of concessions and prevents...

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is broader in policy coverage than conventional trade agreements for goods and, at the same time, offers governments more flexibility, in various dimensions, to tailor their obligations to sector- or country-specific needs. An overview of...

The previous literature provides a highly ambiguous picture on the impact of trade and investment agreements on FDI. Most empirical studies ignore the actual content of BITs and RTAs, treating them as black boxes, despite the diversity of investment provisions constituting the essence of these...