This paper contains further work by the Fund staff on trade issues and developments following the pattern of the surveys prepared in 1978 and 1981, mainly focusing on commercial policies of the major trading nations. It also includes a discussion of agricultural protection and issues relating to international trade in agricultural products.

Evidence taken before Sub-committee A (Economic and Financial Affairs, and International Trade)

This paper discusses the salient features of recent developments and outlines the prospects for trade policy by highlighting the main issues that will determine the scope and timing of liberalization under a possible new General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) round of multilateral trade negotiations. As the more advanced developing countries acquire the skills and investments to diversify exports toward more sophisticated manufactured products, restrictions against them tend to multiply. These not only impede the export prospects of the developing countries directly affected, but also slow specialization and diversification, thus severely affecting the smaller developing country exporters. Across-the-board protectionist measures have been avoided in the industrial countries because it is widely acknowledged that trade restrictions and protectionism are inappropriate responses to exchange rate developments. Exchange rate movements reflect financial flows as well as trade flows, and the importance of exchange rates that correspond to underlying economic fundamentals is unquestioned.

This paper analyzes the achievements of the Uruguay Round, and issues with the post-Uruguay Round agenda. The paper highlights that the conclusion of the Uruguay Round is a major achievement in international trade relations and a crucial element in promoting world trade and growth in the medium term. It arrested the deterioration in the trading environment and created a strengthened framework for future trade relations, thereby boosting business and investment confidence. It also provides positive outcomes in several areas, including market liberalization and strengthening of rules and institutional structures.

Considers (81) H.J. Res. 236.

International Trade, Distribution and Development brings together a collection of papers that have sought to assess empirically the impacts of policy measures affecting trade. The carefully selected papers analyze the impact of trade barriers and their removal, with a focus on distributional consequences and economic development.Grounded in rigorous empirical analysis, this book covers a range of policy issues such as impacts of trade on wages, non-tariff barriers, trade preferences, export survival and carbon labelling. An invaluable reference for readers seeking to understand the impact of trade policies, the book also seeks to shed light on future research, especially for research on developing countries.

Three major fields of international law – trade, the environment, and human rights – have become inextricably intertwined in today’s world. A practitioner, policymaker, businessperson, or academic involved in any one of these fields must now be conversant with the other two. This groundbreaking book considers the crucial elements of this complex engagement, with eleven authoritative discussions by some of the most important and widely renowned professors of labor, commercial, and international law and experts from the International Labour Organization and the International Society for Labour and Social Security Law. Focusing primarily on the “social pillar” of sustainability, the authors cover such critical issues as the following: – the “creeping de-globalization” manifested by Brexit and US protectionist policies; – new and renegotiated multilateral “mega” treaties; – prospects for effectively codifying social responsibilities of multinational corporations; – nexus of economic comparative advantage and excessive exploitation of natural resources; – weak (or non-existent) enforcement of labor clauses in trade agreements; – assessing and managing environmental and social risk in project finance; and – stabilization clauses in state–investor agreements. An analysis of MERCOSUR serves as a revealing insight into the differences between trade agreements concluded among developing countries and those concluded among developed countries. A much-needed probing of the future of global trade in the light of a resurgence of economic nationalisms, this book takes a giant step towards a new consensus and cohesion phase in the international community where development policies, international business transactions, and social and environmental sustainability coexist harmoniously. It will be welcomed by practitioners, academics, and researchers in trade law, environmental law, and labor law, as well as by policymakers and businesspersons concerned with how these legal fields interact with economic justice.