In The News

Japan Vows to Proceed with Oil Deal in Iran

David Pilling August 19, 2003
Japan may seek an oil deal with Iran, despite US objections. Earlier this year, many speculated that Tokyo had abandoned a lucrative deal to develop Iran's Azadegan oilfield because of US opposition and accusations that Tehran was seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Several months later, however, Japanese companies have revived the temporarily stalled deal. Analysts maintain that Japan is...

Security Measures May Not be Sand in the Wheels of Commerce

William Mougayar August 19, 2003
Seaports have been described as America's most vulnerable entry-point. Everyday, ships from around the world dock in American harbors and unload a vast array of cargo. Most inbound crates contain products from trusted trade partners. However, since September 11, concern has grown that the crates entering these under-regulated gateways could hold chemical, biological, or even nuclear...

Farm Deal Puts WTO Talks at Risk

Charlotte Denny August 14, 2003
The US and the EU spoke optimistically about their new agreement on farm subsidies last night, but many developing countries doubt whether tangible change will result. Agricultural reform has been an extremely contentious issue in the WTO, often dividing the developed and the developing worlds. Europe, the United States, and Japan spend billions of dollars a year on agricultural subsidies, a...

Harvesting Poverty

August 11, 2003
Two hundred years ago, the English navy blockaded French ports, cutting the country off from the sugar cane of tropical colonies and forcing Napoleon to push French farmers to grow beet sugar as a replacement. The blockade eventually ended, but the farming of beet sugar did not. Indeed, as this New York Times editorial points out, beet sugar is vehemently protected by EU agricultural policies...

The Long Reach of King Cotton

August 5, 2003
Subsidies to American cotton growers are deflating prices on the global cotton market and causing great hardship for poor farmers in Africa, says this New York Times editorial. If the subsidies were removed, the paper argues, world prices would stabilize at levels that reflect real costs, African farmers would profit from their comparative advantage in cotton production, and the US would look...

German Companies Look to Iraq

Aaron Kirchfeld August 1, 2003
Germany's efforts to rebuild its once extensive trade relationship with Iraq face many obstacles, not the least of which is residual tensions with the US from the Iraq War. The US and Britain remain reluctant to contract with companies from countries that did not support the coalition. At the same time, the German companies that are receiving contracts remain reluctant to discuss their...

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...