This paper develops a simple small-country model to explain why the WTO prohibits export subsidies but allows import tariffs. Governments choose protection rates import tariffs/export subsidies) to maximize a weighted sum of social welfare and lobbying contributions. While transportation costs...

How high were import tariffs when GATT participants began negotiations to reduce them in 1947? Establishing this starting point is key to determining how successful the GATT has been in bringing down trade barriers. If the average tariff level was about 40 percent, as commonly reported, the...

The dispute Argentina-Measures Affecting the Importation of Goods concerns a series of measures imposed by Argentine authorities on economic operators as a condition for obtaining import licenses. These measures were introduced with the goal of advancing the Argentine government's stated...

How high were import tariffs when GATT participants began negotiations to reduce them in 1947? Establishing this starting point is key to determining how successful the GATT has been in bringing down trade barriers. If the average tariff level was about 40 percent, as commonly reported, the...

The recent WTO dispute case, Korea – Import Bans, and Testing and Certification Requirements for Radionuclides (Korea – Radionuclides), illustrates complex legal issues and significant political implications associated with the regulatory autonomy of a sovereign country under the WTO...

Suggested guidelines for a safeguards process that emphasizes an import restriction's impact on the domestic economy: Domestically, who would benefit from the proposed restriction and who would lose, and by how much? And how would import-using interests be affected?Realizing that trade...

How high were import tariffs when GATT participants began negotiations to reduce them in 1947? Establishing this starting point is key to determining how successful the GATT has been in bringing down trade barriers. If the average tariff level was about 40 percent, as commonly reported, the...