In The News

Backing Down on Steel Tariffs, U.S. Strengthens Trade Group

David E. Sanger December 5, 2003
The fight over US steel tariffs, writes David Sanger in the New York Times, will go down in history as the case that defines the World Trade Organization's power. No case in the eight year history of the WTO has tested its power to quite the same degree, but now it has been tested – and won. Last week President Bush was forced to eliminate steel tariffs that the WTO ruled illegal after the...

Steel Tariffs Reported On Way Out

David Roeder December 2, 2003
President Bush is likely to avert a trade war by lifting the tariffs he imposed on imported steel in March of 2002. Bush originally established the duties to prevent the loss of steelworkers' jobs. However, keeping the tariffs would likely damage the economy far more by sparking a trade war with the European Union and Japan, both of whom threatened to retaliate by putting $2.3 billion...

Bull in a China Shop?

David Dapice December 1, 2003
As the election calendar heats up in the US, the Republican Bush administration and the Democrats' presidential hopefuls are all fingering China as the culprit behind America's economic woes. A rise in imports from China and a sharp decline in manufacturing jobs are the 'evidence' they point to, says economist David Dapice, but their theories simply don't hold water....

Bush Dropping Steel Tariffs to Avert Trade War

Mike Allen November 30, 2003
In response to a WTO ruling that was finalized three weeks ago, the Bush administration has indicated they are likely to drop the 8-30% steel tariffs imposed in 2002. The US faces a trade war with the European Union and Japan if it keeps the tariffs, which target imports from these nations as well as from South America. EU countries are threatening tariffs on products like Florida citrus fruits...

Difficult Times for Coffee Industry as Demand Falls

Tony Smith November 25, 2003
The international market for coffee is not good for the world's millions of coffee farmers. Facing prices at a 30-year low and production increases that outstrip demand, hundreds of thousands of coffee farm workers in Central America and Brazil are being forced off the land or into production of more profitable, yet harmful, coca production. Some former farmers are moving north to find work...

Winners and Losers at End of the Trade Talks

Andres Oppenheimer November 23, 2003
The signing of the Declaration of Miami last week by the 34 participating nations in the Americas "amounted to a broad agreement that allows countries to participate at their own preferred pace and scope in the negotiations, which are scheduled to end on Jan. 1, 2005," says commentator Andres Oppenheimer. The failure of WTO talks in Cancún had increased domestic pressure on the co-...

Asean-China FTA must get priority, says Singapore Prime Minister

Loh Hui Yin November 21, 2003
At the end of a six-day visit to China, Singapore’s Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong announced that he would not pursue a bilateral trade agreement with China until Beijing finalizes a free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). The China-Asean agreement will enhance economic integration between the regional grouping and the mainland, while allowing for bilateral...