Description
Trade policy has moved from the wings onto center stage. Between 1992 and 2000, US exports rose by 55 percent. By the year 2000, trade summed to 26 percent of US GDP, and the United States imported almost two-thirds of its oil and was the world's largest host country for foreign investors. America's interest in a more open and prosperous foreign market is now squarely economic. This volume presents cases on five important trade negotiations, all focused on "making the rules," or the process of establishing how the trade system would operate. The cases not only explore the changing substance of trade agreements but also delve into the negotiation process. They explore not just the what of trade, but the who, how, and why of decision-making. By examining some of the most important recent negotiations, the reader can come to understand not just the larger issues surrounding trade, but how players seek to exert influence and how the system is evolving on a day-to-day basis. This book presents a coherent description of the facts that will allow for discussion and independent conclusions about policies, politics, and processes.
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This is the first of two volumes by Devereaux (John F. Kennedy School of Government's Trade and Negotiation Program, US), Lawrence (Peterson Institute for International Economics, US), and Watkins (practice in organizational behavior, INSEAD-Institut Européen d'Administration Des Affaires, France) that analyze case studies of US trade negotiations. This volume focuses on the relatively new landscape of negotiating policies and rules once though to be purely domestic in nature. The cases examined here--the introduction of rules for intellectual property into the World Trade Organizatino, the negotiations at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for a Multilateral Agreement on Investment, the negotiations over granting the US President "fast- track" trade promotion authority, the negotiations between the United States and China over Chinese accession to the WTO, and the negotiations between the United States and the European Union to establish mutual recognition of conformity assessment procedures--are discussed both in terms of the substance of the agreements and the negotiation process itself, including the roles of negotiation participants and the ways influence is exerted. The purpose of the work is primarily descriptive and policy recommendations and normative arguments are avoided. The other volume looks at cases of dispute resolution within the World Trade Organization system. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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