ABSTRACT
The members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) engaged with each other and their five major neighbors in the Asia-Pacific region, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, to develop the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a comprehensive free trade agreement streamlining all previous agreements among the participating countries. This article applied the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) method in assessing the RCEP and the key role played by the ASEAN in the negotiation process through middle-power diplomacy. The RCEP's strengths in economic integration and weaknesses in certain policy areas encapsulate ASEAN centrality and its strategy of hedging on China, the sole great power in the agreement. The opportunities and threats to the RCEP posed by the increasing geopolitical tensions between China and the US amid the COVID-19 pandemic, meanwhile, demonstrate the complex regional and global geopolitical situation that ASEAN should navigate to ensure the success of the RCEP and maintain centrality in the process. © 2023, Yijun Institute of International Law. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
There are imbalances and uncertainties in the global supply and demand of dairy products, owing to the adverse influence of overall economic changes, dairy prices, agricultural politics, the COVID-19 pandemic, and severe climate. This paper aims to explore the evolving characteristics and influencing factors of the global dairy trade pattern and make recommendations for the sustainable development of the global dairy trade. This paper studies the evolutionary characteristics of the global dairy trade pattern from the perspective of the overall structure, individual characteristics, and core–periphery structure through complex network analysis (CNA), using the countries involved in dairy trade from 2000 to 2020. Furthermore, this study explores the influencing factors of the dairy trade network using a quadratic allocation procedure (QAP). The results indicate that the global dairy trade network has been expanding, with prominent scale-free features and small-world characteristics. Individual countries display obvious heterogeneity, whereas the core import regions of the dairy shift from Europe, East Asia, and America to North America, the Middle East, and East Asia. Contrary to this, there is no significant change in the core export regions. Consequently, the entire dairy trade network represents a clear core–periphery structure. Moreover, the income per capita gaps, geographic distance gaps, and common language always affect the trade value and dairy trade relations across the countries. Meanwhile, economic level gaps and regional trade agreements have become increasingly significant. Thus, the dairy trade may not follow the "border effect”. Lastly, this paper also extends recommendations for the sustainable development of the dairy trade. © 2023 by the authors.
ABSTRACT
I have been looking forward to this discussion to take stock of how FTAs can help expand trade and investment, and especially how modern Agreements such the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) are fit for future purpose, designed to help economies thrive in the 21st century. I will focus my remarks today on CETA. I believe that CETA is a modern and progressive trade agreement for Canada, Ireland and the EU. For over 3 and half years now, CETA has built a track record of inclusive, sustainable and durable wealth creation on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2020, CETA has also cushioned our economies against a bigger dip to our trade sectors. COVID-19 has highlighted the interconnected nature of our economies and, by extension, the importance of strong ties. That is why the CETA will be more important than ever in advancing our shared - if not global - economic recovery from COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
Unhappy with the rulings of the WTO dispute settlement system, which disproportionately targeted US use of trade remedies, the United States ended the entire system in 2019. There are multiple hurdles to agreeing to new terms of trade remedy use and thus potentially restoring some form of binding dispute settlement. First, a change would affect access to policy flexibility by the now large number of users of trade remedies. Second, although China's exports are the overwhelming target of trade remedies, exporters in other countries increasingly find themselves caught up in trade remedy actions linked to China. Third, critical differences posed by China's economic model may call for new rules for trade remedies, but no consensus on those rules has emerged. Even some of the most promising reforms have practical limitations, create additional challenges, or may be politically unviable.
ABSTRACT
[...]in his year-end assessment of Brexit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson proudly highlighted a standards reversal as one of Brexit's signal achievements. Because the British government had rolled back its prohibition against using feet, inches, pints, and quarts, its centuries-old predecessor to the metric system, it was once again possible to produce Winston Churchill's beloved pint-sized bottle of whisky. The UKCA, some warned, might even provoke the kind of resistance that stalled the adoption of the metric system in Britain until its entry into the EU and led to a hybrid system of measurement in the United States. In other countries, especially the United States, where private industry seeking to make its investments more productive generated its own industrial standards using its traditional measurement system as a way of harnessing the forces of industrialization already underway, but also in the United Kingdom, and even in France where it originated, the metric system either was resisted or was rejected repeatedly. The acceptance of Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) as a de facto standard for internetworking showed that the formal standards process could be an impediment to the next wave of industrialization, while circumventing the process offered advantages for governments and private investors alike.
ABSTRACT
Food supply disruption and shortage verified during the current pandemic events are a scenario that many anticipate for the near future. The impact of climate changes on food production, the continuous decrease in arable land, and the exponential growth of the human population are important drivers for this problem. In this context, adding value to food waste is an obvious strategy to mitigate food shortages, but there is a long way to go in this field. Globally, it is estimated that one-third of all food produced is lost. This is certainly due to many different factors, but the lack of awareness of the consumer about the nutritional value of certain foods parts, namely peels and seeds, is certainly among them. In this review, we will unveil the nutritional and bioactive value of the waste discarded from the most important fresh fruit and vegetables consumed worldwide as a strategy to decrease food waste. This will span the characterization of the bioactive composition of selected waste from fruits and vegetables, particularly their seeds and peels, and their possible uses, whether in our diet or recycled to other ends.
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to investigate the impact of people’s sentiments toward border crossings on personal vehicle and pedestrian crossings along the US–Mexico border. This study focused on regional factors and employed data derived from Google Trends as a proxy for people’s sentiments. Monthly data from the first quarter of 2004 to February 2020 were used. Different regression models were used to address stationarity. After controlling for economic conditions and external events, the primary findings are as follows: first, pedestrian and personal vehicle crossings are sensitive to exchange rate fluctuations. Second, the economic cycle has a slightly higher impact on pedestrians than personal vehicle crossings. Third, an increase in the hostile environment toward immigration in the U.S. may negatively impact pedestrian crossings, especially in Texas. Moreover, a rolling regression was used to examine the impact of people’s sentiments on crossings over time.