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Free trade is important in the development of good economic institutions. One issue, in particular, is whether free trade agreements (FTA) can reduce corruption. Liberalizing trade while reducing corruption can reinforce moral behavior. We examine FTA between the United States and its Latin American trading partners. Free trade may provide incentives that could possibly result in countries becoming less corrupt over time. However, since 2004 the United States has included explicit anti-corruption clauses in its agreements. Using a difference-in-difference framework and a panel of 16 Latin American countries between 1991 and 2018, we test if trade agreements with the U.S. have any effect on corruption. We find that there is an increase in general corruption in countries after signing these trade agreements in comparison to countries that never signed one. These findings suggest that letting countries determine their own rules for reducing corruption might be better than dictating them through an agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how labour provisions in both EU and US trade agreements impact on decent work in countries that ratified such agreements. It uses a new database of workers' rights spanning a large cross-section of 125 partner countries. The results show that such labour provisions in EU trade agreements are only effective in reducing violations of workers' rights in member countries, while those of the US were not effective in reducing the total violations of workers' rights for member countries. Further evidence shows that both the EU and US labour-inclusive trade agreements significantly increase the violations of their rights in practice – indicating inadequate enforcement of labour provisions. Such evidence highlights that labour provisions in trade agreements may bolster the protection of legal labour rights without an improvement in their practical application. This calls for a strong commitment to the implementation of decent work policies by aligning domestic labour practices to international best practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses the likely economic impact of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on Saskatchewan's (a Canadian province) economy in 2030 by building a subnational computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The approach was based on splitting Canada into two regions: Saskatchewan and the Rest of Canada (RoC). Saskatchewan was treated as a separate trading entity with interprovincial and international trade flows. Saskatchewan exports were estimated to increase by 0.81% but imports to increase by 1.75% under the CPTPP. The analysis showed evidence that trade agreements may have different impacts on regions within a country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the research is to work out the recommendations on the geography of the agricultural products trade of Ukraine under the circumstances of the on-going war through the analysis of the trends and dynamics of the agro exports from Ukraine to the CIS, the agricultural products exports from Ukraine to the CIS countries possible correlation with each other, its direction and level. The data are the values of the agricultural products exports from Ukraine to the CIS countries from 2001 to 2023 included with the special identification of the years 2021-2023 as the year 2001 is the earliest one with the available data, 2021 is the pre-war year and 2023 – the year with the latest data available and the second year of the war. Such methods of scientific research as empirical, comparative and statistical analyses, including data mining, cleaning and processing, methods of correlation measuring like Pearson, Spearman and Kendal correlation tests, the method of exclusion, as well as textual and tabular methods for better data presentation and comparison were used while conducting the research presented in the given article. The conducted research indicated, that the agro exports of Ukraine to the following country – pairs appeared to be positively correlated: 1) Armenia – with Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, 2) Azerbaijan – with Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, 3) Belarus – with Uzbekistan, 4) Georgia – with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, 5) Kazakhstan – with Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, 6) Kyrgyz Republic – with Tajikistan, and 7) Tajikistan – with Turkmenistan.

Abstract Background Thailand has expressed interest in joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a twelve-country plurilateral trade agreement whose original incarnation included the United States of America (USA). When the USA withdrew from this agreement, key intellectual property clauses relevant to pharmaceuticals were suspended. These could be reinstated should the CPTPP Parties decide to do so. Methods This study uses two scenarios to cost the impact the CPTPP would have had on Thailand’s 2020 hepatitis C treatment regime if Thailand joined the CPTPP and suspended clauses were reinstated. Results Joining the CPTPP could have increased the cost more than tenfold if suspended CPTPP clauses were reinstated and Thailand was not willing or able to issue compulsory licenses. Based on the 2020 budget, the price for this possible scenario could have reduced hepatitis C treatment coverage by 90%. Conclusions Acceding to trade agreements such as the CPTPP that require increasing intellectual property protection, could compromise Thailand’s hepatitis C program and other national treatment programs reliant on affordable generic medicines. The CPTPP could also prevent Thailand from relying on its own pharmaceutical capabilities to manufacture medicines needed to sustain its treatment programs.

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Background: Thailand has expressed interest in joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a twelve-country plurilateral trade agreement whose original incarnation included the United States of America (USA). When the USA withdrew from this agreement, key intellectual property clauses relevant to pharmaceuticals were suspended. These could be reinstated should the CPTPP Parties decide to do so. Methods: This study uses two scenarios to cost the impact the CPTPP would have had on Thailand's 2020 hepatitis C treatment regime if Thailand joined the CPTPP and suspended clauses were reinstated. Results: Joining the CPTPP could have increased the cost more than tenfold if suspended CPTPP clauses were reinstated and Thailand was not willing or able to issue compulsory licenses. Based on the 2020 budget, the price for this possible scenario could have reduced hepatitis C treatment coverage by 90%. Conclusions: Acceding to trade agreements such as the CPTPP that require increasing intellectual property protection, could compromise Thailand's hepatitis C program and other national treatment programs reliant on affordable generic medicines. The CPTPP could also prevent Thailand from relying on its own pharmaceutical capabilities to manufacture medicines needed to sustain its treatment programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural shifts in patterns of international production, trade, and investment have been spurred by the globalization of supply chains. Today, however, a range of factors, including wars and sanctions, the increasing divide between Western and Chinese approaches to the economy, the increasing links between economic security and national security, and between trade and environmental regulation, are contributing to the fragmentation of international economic frameworks and growing populist and protectionist sentiment. Competition for advantage through industrial subsidies and the setting of digital and environmental standards risks enshrining a less-than-global economic order. In many fields, however, multilateral cooperation, rulemaking, and enforcement in serving shared objectives, in various international organizations, multi-stakeholder forums, and by the private sector, continues to function well. In this ever-more complex international context, where clubs, coalitions, and informal networks among nations are increasingly prevalent, middle powers are wise to remain both agile and resolute in ensuring that national interests are advanced through smart diplomacy, encompassing working with like-minded in caucuses and informal settings that serve to build broader consensus, engaging business and other stakeholders at home and abroad in support. Canada's experience and current efforts provide a constructive example for middle powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The withdrawal of India from negotiations on the world's largest trade pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), in November 2019 was a major setback for proponents of regional economic unity. This paper tries to evaluate India's concerns and also the way forward for India. A review of trade between RCEP countries post-implementation is done to analyze India's stand against joining the block. India decided to opt out of the agreement because of adverse trade balance, impact on the dairy sector, economic slowdown, experience with Free trade agreements (FTAs), China factor, data localization, rules of origin, and the experience of ASEAN countries with Sino-FTA have been some of the factors responsible for this decision. Bilateral trade agreements with Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Rep.and ASEAN were already in place. So, trade between India and 12 RCEP member countries would not have changed after India's inclusion in RCEP. There was fear of a massive surge in imported manufactures from China and dairy imports from Australia and New Zealand. This paper also evaluates the long-term repercussions of this decision and whether India missed out on becoming part of the global value chain n having greater market access through this block. India's experience following protectionist policies did not yield the desired results in the past. So, an in-depth analysis has been done to validate if India has made a mistake by not joining RCEP or if India's concerns and fears were justified and its regional future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The foundation of a healthy Single Market is represented by a strong trade policy. Over the years that shaped the European Union as it is known today, European trade policy had to adjust to new tendencies regarding economic growth, free trade and respecting new regulations set in place by the new wave of green economy. The European Union’s (EU) Green Deal is the main new growth strategy to transition the EU economy to a sustainable economic model. Being green, mindful of the carbon neutrality challenges the trade policy and pushes the law makers and other entities to take serious action. The European Green Deal aims to boost the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy and stop climate change, revert biodiversity loss and cut pollution. One of the most important challenges faced by the European Union’s trade policy represents its alignment with the imperatives of environmental sustainability and Green Deal. Focusing on trading partners around the world, the study assesses the impact of EU trade policy on the adoption of initiatives to promote environmental protection, decent working conditions, ecolabelling, and sustainable marketing of natural resources. Considering trade agreements as tools to promote sustainable development goals and emphasizing the need for coherence between trade policy and environmental commitments, this article will use explanatory graphs and data collected from the European Commission and others to demonstrate the need for a common framework to contribute to achieving the Paris Agreement's environmental, economic and social sustainability goals.

Mega-regional trade agreements progressively became a mechanism for the European Union (EU) to include a wide range of commitments in interregional negotiations. There is a well-developed scholarly debate on the EU's normative power, but we have not seen a similar weight of research on how third countries react to European influence. We suggest that the focus on the macro analysis of state-level interests hides that domestic groups are impacted by EU rules and mobilise to respond to what is perceived as an imposition of European norms. This article explores the EU–Mercosur Agreement and, considering the pivotal role of Brazil in potentially obstructing it, we conducted documentary research to analyse how Brazilian stakeholders have reacted to the EU norm-spreading. We mapped influential individuals and organisations engaged in disclosing their positions and influencing the negotiation outcome. The results demonstrate that while supporters are those directly benefiting from trade liberalisation, opposition comes mainly from sectors impacted by the beyond-trade norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major economic rationale for trade agreements is limiting mutually harmful terms-of-trade externalities. We analyse the impact of market power on tariff commitments of original and acceded WTO members. As countries grow, their market power in different sectors can change in unforeseen ways. To quantify the economic significance of our estimates, we compare actual and predicted tariff commitments under current market power. We find that tariff cuts required to reflect current economic conditions would amount to up to $26.4 billion – nearly 10% of global tariff costs. In the past, the GATT/WTO system has updated tariff commitments through periodic 'rounds', and our findings support the long-overdue revival of the WTO's negotiation function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Submissions on enforcement matters (SEMs) allow civil society members to assert that one party to a free trade agreement (FTA) is failing to enforce its domestic environmental laws. Submissions that survive every step of the SEM process result in a ‘factual record’ prepared by a secretariat on enforcement matters. Relying on qualitative comparative analysis and an original dataset compiling the 158 SEMs submitted under the framework of US FTAs, I investigate what conditions make submissions more likely to succeed in leading to a factual record. I find that the existence of previous submissions dealing with the same facts, submissions against developing countries, and the presence of at least one non-governmental organization as a submitter contribute to a submission’s success, but only in conjunction with other conditions and for a limited number of cases. This result provides overall evidence that secretariats’ decisions are unbiased by the factors examined in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1975, the 15 countries that comprise the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) formalized a trade agreement to integrate their economies to make it easier for them to trade with each other and thus promote economic growth and development. Since then, the evidence suggests that intra-regional trade has not changed much. In this paper, we examine the factors hindering trade using data from 2000, 2010, and 2020 and a modified version of the gravity equation. The results of our study suggest that economic factors are primarily responsible for intra-ECOWAS trade and that policies designed to improve transportation infrastructure and reduce administrative barriers could significantly improve intra-ECOWAS trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes and probes the plausibility of a framework to explain how business associations position themselves politically as trade-related sustainability obligations get stronger. An analysis of the submissions of EU business associations during a consultation on trade and sustainability indicates that firm-level and organisational characteristics explain well trade associations' political cleavages. The paper can provide new insights to help understand a major development in the EU and beyond. The EU is passing through an unprecedented shift in its approach to trade and sustainability as it is likely to rely on legal sanctions to enforce sustainability commitments in trade agreements. Understanding the position of EU business interests in that process is relevant to project the consequences of such shift. Besides, as sustainability provisions in trade agreements get stronger, associations may play an ever-important role in promoting their members collectively or in shielding them from reputational costs. Understanding their political positioning is thus key to understanding the very politics of trade and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union imports over 22.4% of total Kenyan exports and is market to over 51.3% of Kenya's untapped export potential. However, there is a dearth of knowledge on how trade agreements, technical regulations, and standards influence competitiveness of firms exporting to the market. This study uses customs firm-product (HS 2 digit)-destination data ranging from 2007 to 2020 to examine the competitiveness implications of trade agreements and the resultant technical regulations and standards on firms that export to the European Union. The stylized facts demonstrate that countries offering the largest preferential margin to exporting firms are the very same countries with the largest number of technical regulations and standards faced by exporters. Controlling for potential simultaneity, results from random and fixed-effects models demonstrate that higher preferential margins emanating from trade agreements are associated with increases in market power and the number of products per exporter. However, higher preferential margins emanating from trade agreements are associated with a decline in the number of exporters per product driven by internal economies of scale, specialization, product differentiation, and technological advantage among firms. Higher technical regulations are associated with improvement in market competitiveness and number of products per exporter. Higher number of standards is associated with a rise in market power, but a decline in the number of products per exporter and the number of exporters per product. The findings have policy implications to developing countries especially those within the African, Caribbean, and Pacific bloc which has an existing trading arrangement with the EU and touch on a need to strengthen domestic technical and administrative capacity to comply with existing technical regulations and standards especially among MSEs, cooperation in quality management and assurance, strengthening of institutional links for information exchange, and credit support targeting exporting MSEs which have comparative disadvantage in technology and economies of scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractFree trade agreement (FTA) negotiators increasingly face pressure from domestic interest groups, including environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil activists and labor unions. As a result of the growing scrutiny on the content of FTAs, we are now witnessing a proliferation of instruments accompanying FTAs, which we group under the label of flanking measures. In this article, we argue that flanking measures can serve two main non-exclusive purposes: Increasing aggregate social welfare by mitigating the negative spillovers of FTAs on society (the substantive dimension) and helping to build domestic coalitions in support of trade liberalization (the political dimension). Despite the relevance and growing empirical importance of the concept, flanking remains largely overlooked in the International Political Economy (IPE) literature. This essay seeks to fill this gap by discussing the scope, purposes and timing of flanking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The foundation of a healthy Single Market is represented by a strong trade policy. Over the years that shaped the European Union as it is known today, European trade policy had to adjust to new tendencies regarding economic growth, free trade and respecting new regulations set in place by the new wave of green economy. The European Union's (EU) Green Deal is the main new growth strategy to transition the EU economy to a sustainable economic model. Being green, mindful of the carbon neutrality challenges the trade policy and pushes the law makers and other entities to take serious action. The European Green Deal aims to boost the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy and stop climate change, revert biodiversity loss and cut pollution. One of the most important challenges faced by the European Union's trade policy represents its alignment with the imperatives of environmental sustainability and Green Deal. Focusing on trading partners around the world, the study assesses the impact of EU trade policy on the adoption of initiatives to promote environmental protection, decent working conditions, ecolabelling, and sustainable marketing of natural resources. Considering trade agreements as tools to promote sustainable development goals and emphasizing the need for coherence between trade policy and environmental commitments, this article will use explanatory graphs and data collected from the European Commission and others to demonstrate the need for a common framework to contribute to achieving the Paris Agreement's environmental, economic and social sustainability goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objective of this study is to examine the extent of financial integration between Latin American and US financial markets, particularly in light of recent efforts to foster integration through trade agreements. Spanning from 1 January 1990 to 31 December 2019, the sample focuses on major market indices and key sectors. Financial integration is quantified using a DCC multivariate GARCH model, incorporating a smooth transition model, structural breaks, and regression-based approaches. Results indicate increased comovement with the US for main market indices in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, while Brazil shows a decrease. Similar trends are observed in sectoral analyses. This study also reveals heightened correlation post-trade agreements. Structural break analysis highlights significant shifts in dynamic correlations for countries with US free trade agreements. These findings support the argument of increased financial integration, bearing significance for portfolio diversification and international policy formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With a rapidly growing young population, the African continent provides a high but barely exploited economic potential. Creating an African free trade zone is one of the African Union's major initiatives to increase prosperity. Even though the AfCFTA has already come into force, its potential has not yet been fully exploited. This study investigates the logistics challenges associated with the AfCFTA and potential solutions and development paths for future value chains. Methods: The study builds upon a two-stage research process. First, applying the Nominal Group Technique with a group of 19 industry experts, current challenges and strategies to deal with them are conducted, and statements about potential development paths emerging from the AfCFTA are synthesized. Second, a questionnaire among additional industry experts is done to assess the results of the first stage. Results: The article sheds light on the barely untapped field of logistics challenges hindering the AfCFTA to leverage its potential. Strategy fields to address current challenges are explained, and the first indications of how the AfCFTA will shape supply chains in the mid-term are outlined. Conclusions: The article underlines the importance of logistics in the development of pan-African value chains and highlights potential development paths that may arise in the medium term. It also emphasizes the growing need for cooperation between politics, business, and research to overcome current logistics challenges and leverage the potential of the AfCFTA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of the study related to the implementation of economic initiatives is relevant, as the countries of the Global South have developing economies and exciting potential for growth and cooperation. Their economic strengthening could have an impact on the geopolitical picture of the world. The European Union, as one of the largest economic blocs in the world, has interests in supporting and cooperating with these countries to ensure stability and growth. The purpose of this study was to analyse and highlight the importance, complexities, and prospects of implementing economic initiatives that the European Union is implementing in the countries of the Global South. Among the methods used were analytical, statistical, functional methods, as well as methods of system analysis, deduction, synthesis, and comparison. The study highlighted the importance of the European Union’s economic initiatives for the Global South, the significance of cooperation between these regions and the benefits for both sides. The study analysed the main challenges faced by the economic initiatives of the European Union in the context of the Global South, namely, political, economic, social, and cultural factors that complicate the implementation of these initiatives. Potential opportunities for the development of the countries of the Global South as a result of the EU’s economic initiatives have been explored, namely opportunities to attract foreign investment, support economic growth and reduce poverty in these countries. Based on the analysis, particular recommendations were made to improve the implementation of the European Union’s economic initiatives for the countries of the Global South. The practical value lies in the use of the identified results, solving issues related to the implementation of initiatives to bring this process to a new level

This paper aims to measure the impact of environmental provisions in free-trade agreements on pollution levels in 40 Asian economies for the period 1990–2019. Following the failure of WTO negotiations, there has been a rapid proliferation of preferential trade agreements incorporating various types of environmental clauses. We exploit such changes to assess their influence on pollution emissions. We use a DOLS approach that considers the potential endogeneity of environmental clauses. Further, panel vector error correction models (VECM) are employed for examining the presence of a cointegration relationship among the variables studied. Overall, our findings indicate that these environmental clauses have heterogenous effects on CO2 emissions. We do not find significant effects of environmental clauses on pollution. However, this result is driven by environmental provisions that are not legally enforceable. We do find a positive effect of environmental clauses with a higher level of legalism on the environmental quality. These results show that the inclusion of environmental provisions in trade agreements is not sufficient by itself. Such provisions should incorporate a legally enforceable framework to effectively address environmental concerns. These findings have significant policy implications for Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, we have witnessed a significant turn towards commercial protectionism as a response to what some perceive as clear discontent provoked by the current process of globalization. Our work will focus on two of the most emblematic events symbolizing this trend: the presidency of Donald J. Trump (2017-2021) in the United States and the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom. Trump marked a turning point in U.S. trade policy, advocating an "America First" approach that included imposing tariffs and renegotiating international trade agreements. On the other hand, the 2016 Brexit referendum and the subsequent UK's departure from the European Union in 2020 represented a paradigmatic case of regional protectionism. Therefore, we will explore how Brexit affected trade relations between the UK and the EU, as well as its position on the international stage. Along these lines, we will discuss the broader implications of these two dynamics in the context of the globalization crisis: Do these movements pose a sustainable challenge to the existing global economic order, or are they temporary responses to specific issues? What lessons can be drawn from these experiences for the future management of trade conflicts?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research article we delve into the aspects of trade practices paying particular attention to environmental considerations. With the pressing challenges posed by climate change and environmental degradation worldwide it becomes crucial to evaluate how international trade law can contribute to promoting practices. We explore the frameworks, treaties and mechanisms that govern trade and examine their effectiveness, in tackling environmental concerns. Additionally we shed light on emerging trends and potential areas, for reform to foster a trade system that is more environmentally conscious and sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, deep trade agreements have spread around the world and gone beyond tariff reductions. We aim to test whether the depth of agreements fosters trade in services. To do so, we use a structural gravity‐type model and build new indicators of the depth of agreements based on the number of articles that are legally enforceable and that are related to trade in services. We show that, while only the deepest trade agreements raise trade in services, the quality of institution determines how deep agreements affect both the intensive (measured by the quantity of trade) and extensive margins of trade (measured by the number of service products exported and the share of the most exported service product in total services exports). This result is more pronounced for some service provisions and is robust after we control for the endogeneity of deep trade agreements. Finally, our results also hold for the Middle East and North Africa countries that we examine as an example of an emerging region that has a comparative advantage in services but whose most of the trade agreements are rather shallow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protectionism in Indonesia has been returning since the mid-2000s following a brief period of deregulation and liberalisation after the Asian financial crisis (AFC). This Survey reviews recent developments in Indonesia's trade policy. It argues that the current approach to trade appears to vacillate between ambivalence, pragmatism and nationalism. Three cases are used to demonstrate the interplay between these characterisations: 'downstreaming' and local content requirement policies, Indonesia's relationship with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the proliferation of trade agreements, and the commodity balance sheet approach to trade. The paper argues that increasing trade and integrating further into the global value chains are important to have faster economic growth and one way to facilitate that is by improving logistics infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Which companies gain and which companies lose from trade agreements? In contrast to a view that sees the largest companies as the main beneficiaries of trade agreements, we argue that medium-sized companies gain the most from them. Moreover, we examine whether more capital-intensive and more diversified companies benefit more than other firms. Our empirical test relies on a dataset with daily firm-level stock price data for close to 4,000 US companies over the period 2009–2016. Concretely, we assess how the shares of different types of firms reacted to the news on the (lack of) progress of the negotiations aimed at concluding the TPP and TTIP. We find support for the view that medium-sized and diversified companies win the most from trade agreements. Besides speaking to the literature on the distributional effects of trade agreements, the article contributes to recent research on the role of firms in the international political economy and the stock market consequences of political events. It also presents a novel approach to measuring progress and stagnation in international trade negotiations using computational text analysis.

Abstract Background Despite accumulating evidence of the implications of trade policy for public health, trade and health sectors continue to operate largely in silos. Numerous barriers to advancing health have been identified, including the dominance of a neoliberal paradigm, powerful private sector interests, and constraints associated with policymaking processes. Scholars and policy actors have recommended improved governance practices for trade policy, including: greater transparency and accountability; intersectoral collaboration; the use of health impact assessments; South-South networking; and mechanisms for civil society participation. These policy prescriptions have been generated from specific cases, such as the World Trade Organization’s Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health or specific instances of trade-related policymaking at the national level. There has not yet been a comprehensive analysis of what enables the elevation of health goals on trade policy agendas. This narrative review seeks to address this gap by collating and analysing known studies across different levels of policymaking and different health issues. Results Sixty-five studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Health issues that received attention on trade policy agendas included: access to medicines, food nutrition and food security, tobacco control, non-communicable diseases, access to knowledge, and asbestos harm. This has occurred in instances of domestic and regional policymaking, and in bilateral, regional and global trade negotiations, as well as in trade disputes and challenges. We identified four enabling conditions for elevation of health in trade-related policymaking: favourable media attention; leadership by trade and health ministers; public support; and political party support. We identified six strategies successfully used by advocates to influence these conditions: using and translating multiple forms of evidence, acting in coalitions, strategic framing, leveraging exogenous factors, legal strategy, and shifting forums. Conclusion The analysis demonstrates that while technical evidence is important, political strategy is necessary for elevating health on trade agendas. The analysis provides lessons that can be explored in the wider commercial determinants of health where economic and health interests often collide.

Which companies gain and which companies lose from trade agreements? In contrast to a view that sees the largest companies as the main beneficiaries of trade agreements, we argue that medium-sized companies gain the most from them. Moreover, we examine whether more capital-intensive and more diversified companies benefit more than other firms. Our empirical test relies on a dataset with daily firm-level stock price data for close to 4,000 US companies over the period 2009-2016. Concretely, we assess how the shares of different types of firms reacted to the news on the (lack of) progress of the negotiations aimed at concluding the TPP and TTIP. We find support for the view that medium-sized and diversified companies win the most from trade agreements. Besides speaking to the literature on the distributional effects of trade agreements, the article contributes to recent research on the role of firms in the international political economy and the stock market consequences of political events. It also presents a novel approach to measuring progress and stagnation in international trade negotiations using computational text analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the leading commercial drivers applied in developing countries, especially in economies with conservative policies, is free trade agreements or tariff preferences with strategic economic zones worldwide. The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are no exception. The United States is the region's leading trading partner; however, several countries have signed trade agreements with the European area in recent years. In this paper, we ask ourselves to what extent these agreements are beneficial. In addition, we evaluate the impact on exports with other world regions. Mainly, we analyze the effect of commercial firms in the European zone on the level of exports of the other partners, especially with the United States. The results consistently suggest that signing trade agreements with the European zone generates an export displacement effect. In other words, although the gross level of exports to the European zone increases, the level of exports to other regions of the world, especially to the United States, grows faster than other countries that do not even have agreements with the Europeans. Generally, exports do not have a statistically significant effect on signing trade agreements with the European zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As multilateral trade barriers fall, there are increasing concerns that domestic policies will be used to undermine tariff cooperation. We examine how the ability to use domestic instruments affects the formation of trade agreements, and the resulting implications for the pursuit of free trade. We examine how optimal tariffs relate to domestic policy choices, and how negotiated restrictions on trade policy affect both domestic policies and the incentives to enter different trade agreements. We show that unrestricted domestic policy can lead to very different equilibrium trade agreements than with exogenous domestic policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the pathway to development in a world marked by rising economic nationalism and less international integration? This paper answers this question within a framework that emphasizes the role of demand‐side constraints on national development, which is identified with sustained poverty reduction. In this framework, development is linked to the adoption of an increasing returns to scale technology by imperfectly competitive firms that need to pay the fixed setup cost of switching to that technology. Sustained poverty reduction is measured as a continuous decline in the share of the population living below $1.90/day purchasing power parity in 2011 U.S. dollars over a five‐year period. This outcome is affected in a statistically significant and economically meaningful way by domestic market size, which is measured as a function of the income distribution, and international market size, which is measured as a function of legally‐binding provisions to international trade agreements, including the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the World Trade Organization, and 279 preferential trade agreements. Counterfactual estimates suggest that, in the absence of international integration, the average resident of a low‐ or lower‐middle‐income country does not live in a market large enough to experience sustained poverty reduction. Domestic redistribution targeted towards generating a larger middle class can partially compensate for the lack of an international market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of trade power and green low-carbon transformation are common high-quality development goals for countries worldwide. The depth of the environmental provisions contained in different countries' intercountry trade agreements and the implicit carbon data of intercountry trade are accurately measured based on the textual analysis of trade agreement rules, and it is empirically found that enhancing the depth of the environmental provisions contained in trade agreements can significantly reduce CO2 emissions embodied in international trade. The capacity of intercountry green technology cooperation to strengthen the internal environmental governance capacity of countries and to enhance carbon productivity is an important transmission mechanism. The effect of the environmental provisions in different types of trade agreements on reducing trade-implied carbon is obviously heterogeneous; the higher the level of correlation with carbon emissions is, the stronger the effect of trade agreement provisions, and that effect is more significant in developed countries and in the reduction of foreign carbon emissions that are embedded in export products. In this paper, the impact of the depth of the environmental provisions of trade agreements on trade-implied carbon under the same framework is directly studied, which not only advances the measurement of the depth of the environmental provisions of trade agreements and expands the research field on the scope of influence of existing trade agreements but also fully accounts for the role of the effectiveness of environmental provisions in different contexts and provides a theoretical basis for the optimization of future environmental provisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investment protection is a contentious issue in trade and investment negotiations due in large part to controversy surrounding investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). Governments have taken a range of positions on ISDS—from opposing moderate reforms to the system to the outright rejection of it. Extant research suggests that countries which experience costly investor claims are more likely to be circumspect about it. Case studies of Australia and Peru demonstrate that other factors must be considered. Both countries experienced investor claims but governments continued to act as 'pragmatic proponents' of the system. We show how interest groups and experts shape government preferences by reinforcing the legitimacy of ISDS in the face of contestation. In both cases, domestic actors framed ISDS as low risk; promoting good governance through regulatory chill; and protecting public interests through the promotion of business, which outweighed the costs of participation. Despite the lack of empirical evidence supporting these claims, they were persuasive because interest groups played on embedded ideas about the merits of market-led development and the economic utility of the mechanism. However, we predict that the influence of pro-ISDS actors will vary over time depending on their access to bureaucratic and political decision-making centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the differential effect of trade agreements on income per capita of subnational regions with international borders. We construct an extensive panel dataset covering 1350 regions in 86 countries worldwide between 1950 and 2017. Our results show that trade agreements are positively associated with income per capita of regions sharing contiguous borders with trading partners, relative to regions sharing borders with countries with whom no trade agreements exist. For border regions, the positive relationship of trade agreements and regional income roughly compensates potential income disadvantages of having international borders. These insights help in explaining and mitigating regional inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a network approach to study the relationship between trade agreements and trade flows. For the first time in the literature, hypergraphs are used to capture the topology of trade agreements, while the usual graphs are used to represent trade flows. For our analysis, we focused on a snapshot of data from July 2017, before CETA as an agreement in force only in September 2017. An analysis of modularity conducted on both the trade agreements and the trade flows shows an imperfect correspondence between the communities of countries found within the two networks. Although the motivations of Brexit were multiple and, for the most part, far from commercial concerns, Brexit appears as a way to reconcile the networks of flows and agreements. On the other hand, Canada already belonged to the European cluster of trade agreements before the CETA agreement, which therefore appears only as an ex post confirmation of an existing situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic resulted in large and varying declines in bilateral trade flows. This study investigates whether these diverse effects can be explained by differences in trade costs as measured by pre‐existing trade policies (e.g. tariffs, non‐tariff measures and trade agreements). Results indicate that trade flows subject to higher trade costs declined more than average during 2020. The results also show that trade costs have heterogeneous effects depending on the thickness of trade relationships, with small exporters being relatively more affected by the presence of trade costs. We interpret the results as evidence that the fall in demand during 2020 caused higher‐cost and less‐established suppliers to be squeezed out of international markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysts have long advocated a linkage between international cooperation on climate change and trade measures, such as border tariffs, as a means of enforcing agreements to achieve deeper cooperation. Nevertheless, it has remained difficult to evaluate whether policy makers will allow such linkages and whether linking climate and trade would, in reality, yield beneficial effects to international cooperation. Working with a large sample of climate experts who are highly experienced in climate diplomacy and policy, we elicited how they view the legitimacy and usefulness of linking trade and climate and what factors can explain those views. We find that experts from richer countries, especially Europe, are more likely to see linkage as legitimate and effective. These experts are particularly likely to favor universal border adjustments (UBAs) that apply to all countries to level the economic playing field, rather than trade measures that define an exclusive “club” of countries making extra efforts to cut emissions while punishing non-club members. This finding reveals tensions between a shift in academic thinking about the value of club-based strategies—including clubs that use border measures for enforcement—and what climate policy experts see as valuable. European experts are particularly likely to favor UBAs and they are also least likely to see risks in implementing trade measures. In general, countries with high quality national institutions see lower risks in using trade measures to enforce greater cooperation on climate change. A particularly robust finding is that experts who perceive their home country’s emissions reduction pledge as ambitious are more likely to see risks from using trade measures. While these are the countries that could benefit the most from using trade measures, they are also the countries that are offering the most under the existing Paris Agreement. Experts seem to be increasingly aware of the dissonance between the voluntarism of the Paris Agreement and growing political pressures to apply trade measures. We also find the attributes of experts, such as training and career experience, can affect their assessments. In some models, experts with economic or business backgrounds are more likely to favor trade measures while those with careers in natural science, diplomacy, and national government are less sanguine. Our results suggest that diverging views on the need for trade-based enforcement are robust, associated with important attributes of countries such as their commitments, and likely to persist—suggesting that policy strategies favoring the use of trade measures must pay close attention to the conditions that will determine where and how trade measures can be implemented. Experts from many countries that are the biggest supporters of the Paris approach to climate cooperation also doubt the legitimacy of trade measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guanxi is the Chinese manifestation of a universal phenomenon – the relationship between gift-givers and gift-takers – extended to include its antagonistic but symbiotic relationship with the state. As China's market has been increasingly integrated into the global economic system, guanxi has been adapted, so that similar practices can now be seen in areas such as international business and trade, and industrial relations. In this article, I investigate how guanxi has played a part in the 2010 Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between China and Taiwan. Even though the ECFA has served more as an ongoing framework for negotiations than a final agreement, it was highly controversial in Taiwan right from the opening of negotiations in 2008. Taiwan's reactions to the ECFA reflect how the Chinese government leveraged a guanxi strategy to facilitate the talks. This guanxi strategy shows that the ECFA not only represents economic cooperation, but also works to promote political integration. News reports and official documents in Taiwan highlighted two different reactions to the ECFA there. While one strand approved of the framework and accepted the implied obligations, the other, especially within civil society, saw guanxi as an external threat that needed to be counterbalanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a 'Nash in Nash' framework within a computable general equilibrium model to determine the welfare maximizing set of bilateral trade agreements for countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Comparing these agreements to an agreement involving all countries/sectors, we find that welfare is always larger in the multilateral agreement. This is because several sectors are often excluded from the bilateral agreements, and not all countries would have a bilateral agreement with others. The sectors that are often excluded from the agreements are agriculture, as these sectors are often deemed 'sensitive' in negotiations and are protected by high initial tariffs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]