ABSTRACT
The paper presents the reaction of the Romanian cereal market to the disruption of trade flows caused by certain shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which lead to changes with high impact on the functioning of this market, representing an important test for the resilience of the sector. Due to trade liberalization in global markets, including agri-food markets, the competitiveness of exports has become increasingly important, contributing to the creation of the country's competitive advantage. Any restrictions to trade in agri-food products can distort trade flows, and this disruption will have an impact on supply and prices. Maintaining a balance between imports and exports is essential to ensure domestic market stability. International trade in agri-food products plays an important role in global food security. The results show that Romania mainly exports unprocessed agricultural products, with cereals having the largest share in the export structure, cereal supply is dependent on climate change, yet it is one of the products with the lowest volatility. The cereal market shows a more elastic reaction to price responses, even though demand for staple foods is generally inelastic.
ABSTRACT
The international shipping industry is unique and important. The negative list related to the opening up of the shipping industry is an important part of the reform and innovation of China's pilot free trade zones. In recent years, as countries around the world continue to promote the process of opening up in the fields of trade and services, the negative list system has been used more in international investment and trade agreements. In the field of International Shipping, how to correctly grasp and apply the negative list system is an important topic. Starting with the general concept of the negative list system of shipping market access, this paper reviews and summarizes the developmental processes of the negative list of foreign capital market access in the shipping field since the establishment of Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone. It compares and analyzes the international contracting practice of the European Union and the United States as reflected in the negative list of shipping market access. It equally points out that the system connection between the negative list still existing in China's shipping field and the international high standard negative list is not enough. It argues that the transparency of the negative list still needs to be further strengthened as the rules behind the list and the awareness of its risk prevention are weak. In view of these hitches, this paper makes some suggestions that are tilted towards improving the negative list system of China's shipping market access. It also continues the optimization of the negative list of shipping market access, and the improvement of a conscious awareness aimed at avoiding the possible risks of the negative list. Finally, it makes a strong argument for a continuous improvement of China's international shipping competitiveness.
ABSTRACT
The COVID pandemic has affected the global economy and most countries are facing a double crisis: health and economic. Mexico's responses to these crises have been among the worst in all Latin America. The aim of this paper is to analyse Mexico's economic dynamics and its response to the pandemic crisis, paying particular attention to the role played by the US countercyclical policy. Based on the study of the changes and implications of the process of economic liberalization and trade integration with the US as well as the comparative growth and budget spending patterns, it is concluded that its countercyclcial policy contributes to Mexican economic growth. The results show there is no roadmap for dismantling the neo-liberal economic model. Mexico finds itself tied to the US economic cycle. © 2022 Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
ABSTRACT
Article 16 of the Ireland–Northern Ireland Protocol annexed to the EU–UK Withdrawal Agreement is an escape clause which allows the parties to deviate from their obligations under certain conditions. This article maps out the main features of the safeguards provision in the Protocol in light of international trade law and international relations literature on treaty design. It provides a detailed examination of the safeguards provision in the Protocol and highlights the key design flaws associated with this regime as well as some potential solutions to such flaws.
ABSTRACT
Canada's resistance to the COVID-19 waiver of intellectual property rights at the World Trade Organization (WTO) for so long remains a conundrum given the Trudeau government's stated devotion to “progressive trade.” This article summarizes Canada's global pandemic efforts, arguing that progressive trade in fact helps to explain its waiver stance. Progressive trade evokes trade liberalization as a simple, even magical “fetish” that realizes unconscious desires for disavowal, mastery, and foreclosure. Trade fetishism asserts itself against the waiver, revealing the limits of Canada's approach and the fantasies that animate it. This paper is part of the SPE Theme on the Political Economy of COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
The WTO Trade Policy Review Body met virtually on 11 and 13 March 2020 to review Australia's trade policies. The meeting took place as Australia was completing three decades of uninterrupted economic growth and as the run was being ended by COVID-19 and associated lockdowns. This paper provides a commentary on the Review. It begins by examining the evolution of Australia's trade policies, with emphasis on the period covered by the TPR, 2015-19. The second section evaluates the discussion at the TPR meeting, when WTO members raised questions about the policies described in the Review and the Australian delegation responded. The third section considers developments in the year after the meeting. The paper concludes that, despite its stellar economic performance in the three decades before COVID and strong record on trade liberalisation within and beyond the WTO, Australia faces a difficult post-COVID policy environment. The final section focuses on two challenges: rapidly deteriorating relations with China, Australia's largest trade partner, and the impact of climate change policies.
ABSTRACT
The article explains that the interpretation of the TRIPS Agreement by WTO dispute-settlement panels and the Appellate Body has palpably shifted since the establishment of the WTO in 1995. Some of this shift is also arguably present in disputes concerning other WTO instruments. This progressive shift comes at a time when key debates about TRIPS waivers are taking place on the rue de Lausanne, namely a first for the COVID-19 pandemic and a second possible one for environmental protection measures related to climate change. According to the proposed pluralist analysis of TRIPS, it was less likely as of 2020 that the WTO dispute-settlement system would find unjustifiable inconsistencies between WTO commitments, on the one hand, and measures to protect public health or mitigate climate change, on the other hand. Whether future Appellate Body will follow that jurisprudence is an open question. Though the analysis contained in the article may make the COVID-related TRIPS waivers doctrinally unnecessary and allow Members to take measures now, its main aim is to inform the debates about the waivers and the future interpretation of the TRIPS Agreement, including the three-step test.
ABSTRACT
In this paper we examine the possible distributional impacts of new trade barriers associated with the new Trade and Cooperation Agreement governing relations between the UK and EU after Brexit. We use a model of labour demand that incorporates input-output links across industries, and that allows for demand substitution by firms and consumers and worker reallocation across industries. We find that workers' exposure is moderately increasing across the earnings distribution. Exposure is greater for men than for women as they are more likely to work in manufacturing industries that are relatively harder hit by new trade barriers. Looking across areas, we find that exposure to new Brexit trade barriers is uncorrelated with measures of local deprivation and the impacts of the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
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.
ABSTRACT
Intensification of globalization processes and transition of economically developed countries to the post-industrial stage of development determine the modern vector of structural and institutional transformation of the domestic market as a whole and trade in particular. The article is aimed at estimating the determinants of the development of domestic trade in Ukraine. The indicators of internal trade development are analyzed. The regional structure of retail turnover of Ukraine is provided. The risks and threats of foreign trade liberalization for domestic producers are characterized. The share of imported food and non-food products sold through the trade network of enterprises is computed. The commodity structure of imports by wide economic categories is provided. The risks of growing import dependence of the Ukrainian economy in terms of goods for final and intermediate consumption are identified. It is substantiated that one of the important vectors of improving the efficiency of the national economy is structural changes in the sphere of domestic trade. The prospects for the development of domestic trade in Ukraine are generalized, including those caused by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is argued that the coronavirus crisis is one of the key challenges for business in modern conditions, covering all its aspects - from sectoral to global supply chains. The priority of digital transformation of enterprises in order to protect their own position from high technologies of competitors and the opportunity to take advantage of greater functionality of digital business models with their adaptability and performance is determined. It is substantiated that the processes of globalization in the context of the coronavirus crisis have slowed down, which can lead to significant changes in the structure of the market, affect the distribution of online and offline trading. The prospect of further research in this direction is the forecasting of challenges and threats of the post-pandemic development for the domestic market of Ukraine.
ABSTRACT
Food affordability is of critical concern to any nation, being a key component of food security. Price volatility phenomenon is linked with food affordability because escalating food prices reduces low-income earners' food access. With the COVID-19 pandemic, planting activities by farmers in Nigeria have been negatively impacted in the 2019/20 planting season. Hunger may therefore be looming in the coming periods because food production output will be lowered. Understanding volatility in the prices of food therefore becomes very important if any meaningful solutions are to be proffered. In this study, we sought to measure volatility in prices of important staple foods using the GARCH approach and then investigate the factors that drive them over the period 1970-2019. Our result revealed persistent volatility in food prices over the period under review. It was revealed that insurgency, political stability in neighbouring countries, trade liberalization, GDP per capita, inflation rate, government effectiveness, crop production, crude oil price and exchange rate were prominent drivers of volatility in food commodity prices. The study therefore recommends the pursuance of a peaceful nation that is capable of supporting sustainable and increased agricultural production. We as well recommend mechanisms that better regulates inter-border food trading activities whereas strategies of price stabilization policies and government interventions in the pre-liberalization era should be re-visited. It becomes necessary to embrace a holistic approach to economic planning given the tendencies for macroeconomic variables to drive volatility in food prices.