In The News

Moving Money from One Pocket to Another

Shada Islam August 1, 2003
Europe's new farm subsidy reform package is not perfect, but it may help break the logjam in the WTO, says Shada Islam, a Brussels-based journalist specializing in EU trade policy. The EU farm reforms replace production subsidies with direct payments to farmers who meet food safety and environmental standards. EU officials argue that "decoupling" subsidies from production will do...

US and EU Seek Common Ground on Farm Trade

Guy de Jonquières July 30, 2003
At a recent meeting in Montreal, European and American trade ministers agreed to seek common ground on the issue of farm subsidies before they meet in Cancun in September. Farm trade liberalization has long polarized the US and the EU, and threatens to bring the upcoming WTO meeting to a deadlock. Indeed, although trade representatives from both sides have pledged to be more flexible during...

Each Nation for Itself?

July 28, 2003
The World Trade Organization's 146 member nations will have a lot to talk about when they sit down in Cancun, Mexico in early September. With 23 categories of trade issues on the agenda, says this editorial in Singapore's Straits Times, one may reasonably wonder how much agreement can be reached in five short days. Member nations seem to be more divided than together, with heavy...

A New Era in EU-ASEAN Relations?

Shada Islam July 23, 2003
The two major regional organizations of Asia and Europe are meeting again, this time in Bali, Indonesia. The potential for mutual benefit through increased trade and cooperation between the EU and ASEAN is immense, but Shada Islam wonders if the two regions will be able to realize that potential. Islam, a journalist specializing in EU foreign trade policy, notes that so far there has been...

It's a Fat World, After All

Alison Langley July 20, 2003
Americans are not the only overweight people anymore. Thanks to food companies such as McDonald's and Kellogg, Americans are exporting their corpulence to the outside world. But the rising incidence of chronic, diet-related health problems such as diabetes and heart disease are leading to greater scrutiny of companies that manufacture processed foods. As with other goods, American food...

Norway vs. the Glass Ceiling

Lizette Alvarez July 14, 2003
Women could soon find themselves much more at home in boardrooms across Norway. Part of a legislative trend spreading across Europe, at summer's end Norway's parliament is expected to reconfigure the sex ratio of corporate boardrooms so that women will occupy 40 percent of board seats by 2007. The bill is drawing concern from domestic business groups but arrives at a time when the...

Germany Topples EU Immigration Policy

Carola Schlagheck July 11, 2003
Refugees and migrants seeking work in Europe will be welcomed by some countries and rejected by others. In a last minute effort before the completion of the draft EU constitution, Germany successfully prevented the European Union from pursuing the harmonization of immigration policy throughout Europe. Instead, individual national governments will decide whether to allow non-EU nationals to...