For most Americans, Japan is seen as being at
the heart of the unfair trade problem. There is strong evidence that the Japanese
government and Japanese companies in the auto and steel industries -- to name but a few -
have not always traded fairly.
Word recently leaked out that the United States
had lost an important World Trade Organization decision on the application of U.S.
anti-subsidy laws in cases involving privatization of previously state-owned companies.
This loss comes on the heels of other setbacks on issues regarding U.S. tax laws and
access to the Japanese film… more
Efforts to launch a new round of World Trade
Organization negotiations are gaining momentum. A number of items have emerged for those
discussions, such as the elimination of tariffs in some industrial sectors and
liberalizing agricultural trade. Unfortunately, none really goes to the core of the most
pressing international trade problems confronting… more
The U.S. merchandise trade deficit is setting
new records almost monthly. Every new story on the topic contains dueling perspectives
from economists who argue that the trade deficit is a good sign for the U.S. economy and
those that see it as a threat to American prosperity. Under present circumstances,
however, the… more
The Clinton administration and China appear set
to proceed with negotiations aimed at finally bringing Beijing into the World Trade
Organization, 13 years after it applied.
Assuming they succeed, the administration will trumpet this as a diplomatic victory.
This victory may prove quite fleeting, however, as problems are likely to quickly… more
In the late 1980s and early
1990s, a chorus of foreign governments, foreign companies, and their lawyers and lobbyists
in Washington kept up a steady drumbeat demanding that anti-dumping laws be subject to
more international policing under the world trading system.
They got their wish when the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations
… more
The Belgrade embassy
bombing notwithstanding, the statement of Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui that
Taipei-Beijing dialog should be considered a state-to-state discussion, not talks between
a central government and its renegade province, may be the most historically significant
event of the season.
