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bilateralism & multilateralism

U.S. financial services text to debut at TiSA round
6-Jul-2016 Politico
At the 19th round of Trade in Services talks, U.S. negotiators are expected to introduce language aimed at easing industry concerns over the cross-border transfer of financial services data.
Free to trade?
4-Jul-2016 One India One People
India is part of many international trade agreements, and continues to negotiate with other agencies and countries.
Les traités de libre-échange sont des armes de destruction massive
8-Feb-2016 L’Observatoire des multinationales
De la décolonisation au Tafta
TTIP vs. WTO: Who sets global standards?
14-Jan-2016 EurActiv
TTIP’s ability to create global standards is limited. The agreement may even be detrimental to the promotion of higher social or environmental standards.
The new gold standard? Empirically situating the TPP in the investment treaty universe
25-Nov-2015 Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
The TPP investment chapter offers few truly novel features and is instead heavily influenced by prior American treaty practice.
‘FTAs weaken multilateral systems’
13-Nov-2015 The Hindu
Bilateral agreements were weakening the multilateral arrangements that looked after the Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
TPP: the path to global fragmentation
13-Oct-2015 Forbes
The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal is another nail in the coffin of a multilateral global trade system that brought the world together in the past six decades
Regional free trade deals may create ’legal mess’ within WTO framework
2-Oct-2015 Sputnik
New regional mega-agreements on free trade between the United States, Europe, Pacific Rim nations and some World Trade Organization (WTO) members will create numerous legal problems within the WTO framework.
Trade agreements: EU grows bilateral and regional FTAs
3-Sep-2015 Just Style
Free trade agreements (FTAs) between the European Union (EU) and its trading partners worldwide have mushroomed in recent years and more are in the pipeline.
How regional trade agreements can spark a fight over Feta cheese
26-Aug-2015 Fortune
While the European Union and Canada agree that Feta cheese must come from Greece, the deal underscores the problems with regional trade deals not giving other countries a say.
Q&A: How Southeast Asian economic zone could change region
9-Aug-2015 The Charlotte Observer
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations aims to establish an economic community known as the AEC whose ultimate goal is said to allow free trade, investment and movement of workers between the 10 nations that make up the grouping
Renzi hopes to push through EU-Japan trade deal this year
6-Aug-2015 Euractiv
The Italian prime minister believes the EU and Japan could finalise a free trade deal by the end of the year
The Customs Bill: an unacceptable barrier to climate action
29-Jul-2015 CIEL
A proposed amendment to the Trade Priorities and Accountability Act (TPA) incorporated into the House version of the US Customs Bill poses significant risks to future progress on climate mitigation if accepted.
How the US is using a secret agreement on services to wriggle out of its WTO obligations
17-Jul-2015 The Wire
It is increasingly evident that the TiSA negotiations are an attempt to pressure developing countries to grant greater liberalisation in sectors of interest to the US and other industrialised countries, without the latter having to pay any price for it, writes Chakravarthi Raghavan
Effects of the US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement
30-Jun-2015 LatAm Observer
Advantages and disadvantages of free trade between USA and Peru.
Renegotiating the bite of our BITs
18-May-2015 Jakarta Post
Apart from its network of BITs, Indonesia is also a party to a number of multilateral and regional investment agreements such as the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement which also contain an ISDS clause, including recourse to ICSID arbitration.
The embattled future of global trade policy
13-May-2015
Should proposed US plurilateral trade agreements be welcomed? This is a big question, not least for those who consider the liberalisation of world trade to be a signal achievement. It is also highly controversial.
UN calls for suspension of TTIP talks over fears of human rights abuses
6-May-2015 The Guardian
Alfred de Zayas said the UN will publish a report in August to illustrate the flaws in current plans for the TTIP.
High time for a global investment agreement
15-Apr-2015 South China Morning Post
In terms of international transactions, FDI is more important than trade but it is subject to global policy disarray.
European trade policy at an impasse
4-Mar-2015 DIE
With all eyes on TTIP, we are losing sight of the real challenges for Europe emerging in the Asia-Pacific economic region, argues Axel Berger