<p>Departing from the case of textile and clothing trade dispute between the EU and China in 2005, it has been noticed that the EU’s policy in textile trade to a large extent has been situated in a position of dilemma. On the one hand, the growing global impetus of liberalization in the sector forces the EU to open up its market to cheap textile imports from the developing countries; on the other hand, the fierce protectionist pressures come from the domestic producers and slow down the paces towards liberalization, or sometimes even take setback towards more conservative performances. By placing this case in a broader context, the EU’s external trade policy is confronted with the similar dilemma, swaying between the trade liberalization and trade protection. Consequently, does the EU emerge in the current multilateral trading system of the WTO as a force for trade liberalization or a force for trade protectionism?</p><p>Bearing this question in mind, the general climate of global trade under the GATT/WTO and the EU’s external trade policy will firstly be examined. Then, the EU’s trade protectionism is about to be explained by strategic trade theory, the high political content of the EU’s external trade policy and the fragmentation in the EU’s policy networks; while the EU’s inclination towards trade liberalization will be explained by the implications from the conventional trade theory and new institutionalism, and as well as the impacts from the general climate of global trade.</p><p>The results shows that the EU’s external trade policy under the global trade liberalization is a mixture, neither pure liberalization nor pure protectionism. With regard to the trade issues concerning to the vital interests, the Union without exception inclines to conservative protectionism; whereas concerning the issues of less importance, compromises and concessions always lead the outcomes of the policy to the inspiring liberalization.</p>

A review on free trade principle in theory and practice suggests that trade liberalization is merely rhetoric under which industrialized countries can pursue specific interests of certain actors more deceptively. The purpose of this thesis is to testify whether this preliminary result on general trade issues is valid in the textile and clothing sector as well. The reasons for the author to narrow her research scope down to this industry are that: first, textiles and clothing had been subject to consistent trade protectionism for more than thirty years since the discriminatory Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA) in 1974; second, the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) in 1995 was designed to remove all quota restrictions by 1st January 2005 via a ten-year transitional period; third, the European Union (EU) raised safeguard investigations within four months after the expiry of the agreement, and succeeded in re-introducing quantitative restraints back to this sector. The intense and dramatic Europe-China textile dispute in 2005 started from the completion of quota abolishment, but ended up with quota re-imposition, which inspires the author to ask whether the European Union’s trade liberalization in the textile and clothing sector is rhetoric or reality. The thesis examines the conventional stance of the Union’s textile and clothing policy, the actual fulfillment of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC), and the development of the Europe-China trade dispute on in 2005. In order to identify involved interest groups and their demands during the implementation of the agreement and in the dispute shortly afterwards, the thesis also analyzes: first, the interaction between protectionist lobbying groups and national governments at the Union’s level; and second, the divergence on the attitudes towards China’s expansion in the European market among member states.             Comparing the Union’s early promises in the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) with its actual behaviors during implementation and in dispute, the author finally concludes that the Union’s trade liberalization in the textile and clothing sector is merely rhetoric under which the European Union (EU) pursues the protectionist interests of its domestic textile and clothing producers and those member states with substantial textile and clothing industry.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:54:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 LiliaSL_DISSERT.pdf: 1205746 bytes, checksum: 2d6f54937aea54d66af1807b0fdb64df (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-13 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established in 1994 as a result of the Uruguay Round, and has as its principal aim advocate for the maintenance of free trade between nations. The preamble of its Constitutive Agreement specifically cites as an institution the goal of achieving sustainable development and the pursuit of protecting and preserving the environment, bringing into the sphere of world trade the idea that concern for the environmental cause is not restricted only the group of environmentalists, but rather has entered the economic landscape in a way not only ideological, but also pragmatic. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1947, part of the GATT 1994, contains a device that allows the adoption of trade restrictive measures, provided that such measures aimed at protecting the environment - Article XX. The Settlement Body (DSB) is part of the WTO and acts in dissolving disputes between the countries motivated by trade. It examines two cases where countries have imposed restrictive trade measures with environmental justification. The first case was closed in 1996, with award of damages given to Brazil, on the breakdown of U.S. environmental legislation imposed on imported gasoline from Brazil - and the second, begun in 2005 and closed in 2007, coming out victorious again Brazil is on the import ban on retreaded tires to Brazil. The objective is to answer the question: how the environment is treated in the midst of trade discussions - which is aimed at its protection or its use with economic objectives in disguise? For the preparation of this work, extensive documentary research was undertaken with the virtual site of the WTO to review the entire production of legal cases and subsequent analysis of the key issue for the work, and literature of authors who have studied the tense relationship between trade international environment. The first case, it could be seen that the political movement performed by the U.S. with the aim of achieving acceptable standards of air quality was an institutional effort to ensure the quality of air, and thus would be inappropriate to say that the regulation of gasoline was merely a disguised trade barrier.However, a careful analysis of the implementation and operation of gasoline regulation may reveal intentions disguised trade and U.S. environmental argument did not hold. The weight of this environment was relegated, since there were clearly outside interests to the environmental cause. The second case, it was realized that, despite clear attempts by the EC to promote ecological dumping, send when brought to Brazil, supposedly a country with weaker environmental structure on surveillance, a residue that, pursuant to internal policies, as could not be sent to their own landfills, the Brazilian discourse remained focused on the environmental cause, and this sort there was the existence of disguised trade barriers, but of importance, at least a priori, the discussion of foreign forces on the environment environment because there is no way to legally justify the reversal of the total understanding of the first judging body, the sight of all the arguments presented by Brazil and the nonsubmission of new facts upon appeal. Still, quite heartening to reflect on the role of trade liberalization on the environment in general, because, while they do not reach a definitive conclusion will reveal positions in both directions, both for and against, the that only adds to the discussions and makes this a very fertile topic for future research / A Organiza??o Mundial do Com?rcio (OMC) foi criada em 1994, como resultado da Rodada Uruguai, e tem como escopo principal propugnar pela manuten??o do livre-com?rcio entre as na??es. O pre?mbulo do seu Acordo Constitutivo cita especificamente como sendo um objetivo da institui??o o alcance de um desenvolvimento sustent?vel e a busca pela prote??o e preserva??o do meio ambiente, trazendo para a esfera do com?rcio mundial a ideia de que a preocupa??o com a causa ambiental n?o est? restrita apenas ao grupo dos ambientalistas, mas, pelo contr?rio j? adentrou o cen?rio econ?mico de uma forma n?o s? ideol?gica, por?m tamb?m pragm?tica. O Acordo Geral de Tarifas e Com?rcio (GATT) de 1947, que integra o GATT de 1994, cont?m um dispositivo que permite a ado??o de medidas restritivas ao com?rcio, desde que tais medidas visem a prote??o do meio ambiente Artigo XX. O ?rg?o de Solu??o de Controv?rsias (OSC) integra a OMC e atua na dissolu??o de controv?rsias entre os pa?ses motivadas por quest?es comerciais. Analisam-se dois casos em que pa?ses impuseram medidas comerciais restritivas com justificativa ambiental. O primeiro caso foi encerrado em 1996, com ganho de causa dado ao Brasil, relativo ? discrimina??o da legisla??o ambiental estadunidense imposta ? gasolina importada do Brasil e o segundo, iniciado em 2005 e encerrado em 2007, saindo novamente o Brasil vitorioso, ? referente ? proibi??o da importa??o de pneus reformados para o Brasil. Objetiva-se responder ? pergunta: como o meio ambiente ? tratado em meio a discuss?es comerciais o que se visa ? a sua prote??o ou a sua utiliza??o com objetivos econ?micos disfar?ados? Para a confec??o deste trabalho, foi empreendida ampla pesquisa documental junto ao s?tio virtual da OMC para avalia??o de toda a produ??o jur?dica dos casos e posterior an?lise da quest?o-chave para o trabalho, al?m de pesquisa bibliogr?fica de autores que estudam a tensa rela??o entre com?rcio internacional e meio ambiente. Quanto ao primeiro caso, p?de-se perceber que a movimenta??o pol?tica realizada pelos EUA com o fito de alcan?ar padr?es aceit?veis de qualidade do ar foi um esfor?o institucional para assegurar a qualidade do ar atmosf?rico, e, assim, seria inapropriado afirmar que o regulamento da gasolina constituiu meramente um entrave comercial disfar?ado. Por?m, uma an?lise cuidadosa da implementa??o e do funcionamento do regulamento da gasolina pode evidenciar inten??es comerciais disfar?adas e o argumento ambiental dos EUA n?o se sustentou. O peso do meio ambiente neste foi relegado, posto que visivelmente existiam interesses estranhos ? causa ambiental. Quanto ao segundo caso, percebeu-se que, apesar das claras tentativas das CE de promover o dumping ecol?gico, quando intentaram enviar para o Brasil, supostamente um pa?s com estrutura fiscalizat?ria ambiental mais d?bil, um res?duo que, por for?a de diretivas internas, j? n?o podia ser enviado para seus pr?prios aterros, o discurso brasileiro permaneceu centrado na causa ambiental, e desta sorte n?o se verificou a exist?ncia de barreiras comerciais disfar?adas, e sim, de preponder?ncia, pelo menos a priori, de for?as estranhas ? discuss?o sobre o meio ambiente, pois que n?o h? como se justificar juridicamente a revers?o total do entendimento do primeiro ?rg?o julgador, ? vista de todos os argumentos apresentados pelo Brasil e da n?o apresenta??o de fatos novos quando da apela??o. Ainda, bastante alvissareira a reflex?o sobre o papel da liberaliza??o comercial sobre o meio ambiente de forma geral, pois que, ao passo em que n?o se chega a uma conclus?o definitiva, evidenciamse posi??es nos dois sentidos, tanto a favor quanto contra, o que s? enriquece as discuss?es e torna este um tema bastante f?rtil para futuras pesquisas

Tendecies to protectionism appeared in all crisis so far. The current one is no exception. Used protecting tools are the characteristics what differentiate them. The most used tools are non-tarrif measures, especially technical. Governments also applied stimulus packages which often included buy-national type of activities. The thesis concetrates on the roots of the changed pattern in the global economy. It investigates the influence of WTO, which liberalizes the world trade on the multilateral basis. On the other hand, the thesis focuses on regionalism and regional integrations, that liberalize trade only among few involved countries. The thesis also reflects the division of the world to developing and developed countries and describes differences in used measures. The case study investigates the North American Free Trade Agreement, which includes one developing and two developed countries. It also includes the world's biggest economy, whose behaviour heavily impacts the development of the global economy as a whole. This example illustrates differences in the measures used by governments of developing and developed coutries. It analyses influence of a regional integration to these measures and compares it to the influence of WTO. The possibilities of further enlargement of the free trade area and of involving the member countries to other integrations are reflected as well.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Boston College, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 239-242).

Departing from the case of textile and clothing trade dispute between the EU and China in 2005, it has been noticed that the EU’s policy in textile trade to a large extent has been situated in a position of dilemma. On the one hand, the growing global impetus of liberalization in the sector forces the EU to open up its market to cheap textile imports from the developing countries; on the other hand, the fierce protectionist pressures come from the domestic producers and slow down the paces towards liberalization, or sometimes even take setback towards more conservative performances. By placing this case in a broader context, the EU’s external trade policy is confronted with the similar dilemma, swaying between the trade liberalization and trade protection. Consequently, does the EU emerge in the current multilateral trading system of the WTO as a force for trade liberalization or a force for trade protectionism? Bearing this question in mind, the general climate of global trade under the GATT/WTO and the EU’s external trade policy will firstly be examined. Then, the EU’s trade protectionism is about to be explained by strategic trade theory, the high political content of the EU’s external trade policy and the fragmentation in the EU’s policy networks; while the EU’s inclination towards trade liberalization will be explained by the implications from the conventional trade theory and new institutionalism, and as well as the impacts from the general climate of global trade. The results shows that the EU’s external trade policy under the global trade liberalization is a mixture, neither pure liberalization nor pure protectionism. With regard to the trade issues concerning to the vital interests, the Union without exception inclines to conservative protectionism; whereas concerning the issues of less importance, compromises and concessions always lead the outcomes of the policy to the inspiring liberalization.

Magister Legum - LLM / It has been held that agricultural domestic support would not be such a contentious issue if its only effect was the benefit of local farmers, but this is not the case.1 It was found that several forms of domestic support have the effect of distorting the patterns of agricultural production and trade at an international level, leaving non-supported farmers elsewhere worse off.2 It was thus concluded that such support measures may indeed nullify the benefits which accrue from trade liberalisation and explains how the AoA3 regulates these measures in a way that reduces their trade distorting effects.4 It has been noted that the agricultural sector only accounted for a small percentage of the developed world's Gross Domestic Product {GDP}, yet the regulation of international agricultural trade was not an easy task.5 Smith explains that numerous attempts were made to implement some form of regulation, including a half-hearted effort in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the subsequent AoA upon the creation of the WTO in 1995.6 According to Smith, the successful regulation of international agricultural trade remained elusive, despite Desta MG and McMahon JA explain that the WTO is not very concerned with countries that provide domestic support to their agricultural sectors, as this only matters to the extent that it hopes for liberalising trade in the sector.7 affects trade in that sector.8 It is further observed that the AoA balances out the freedom to provide domestic support with the need to reduce or eliminate the trade distortive effects thereof and note that the AoA has essentially made all forms of domestic support more transparent and easier to deal with.9 A party is therefore unlikely to be challenged, successfully, if domestic support is given in accordance with the provisions of the AoA.10 The aforementioned views only seem to address the merits of the AoA and the way in which it regulates the use of agricultural subsidies. It should however be noted that the literature fails to address the fact that the WTO has not enforced the provisions of the AoA very effectively against the EU and the USA, in light of the continued misuse of subsidies within both parties. In this regard it must be ascertained whether the WTO should impose stricter penalties as a means to deter its member states, especially the EU and USA, from using subsidies in an abusive way. In addition to this, it must be determined which types of penalties can and should be imposed.

No description available.

Magister Legum - LLM / In this paper I delve into the connection between trade policy and labour rights as probably one of the most controversial issues, which the international trading system is faced with today. Labour laws differ from country to country and of course it is a cause for concern where some countries have higher standards than others, it becomes problematic for these countries with high standards to compete with countries with lower standards. Even though there is a definite link between trade and labour, my argument is that incorporating labour standards into the international trading system is not the best way forward to deal with the problem of abuse of labour standards. I further investigate the two organizations at the forefront of this debate, being the WTO and the ILO. In an attempt to ascertain which of the two is the best forum to deal with the issue I further look at the relationship between these two organizations. Compliance with international labour standards is a growing concern as worldwide standards are deteriorating and nothing is being done to alleviate the problem. Accordingly, I explore the causes for the abuse of labour standards and seek to find the better alternative, by looking at the respective positions of the parties who are for and against the linkage of trade with labour standards. Here the views and concerns of the developed world are weighed up against those of the developing world and looking at possible alternatives concludes the paper. / South Africa