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NAFTA renegotiation talks arrive amid diverging interests, neoliberal goals
16-Aug-2017 Tele Sur
As Mexico, Canada and the U.S. head into potentially thorny talks, critics say that banks and multinationals will be first to reap the benefits.
What to do about corrupt arbitral tribunals?
16-Aug-2017 The Global Anticorruption Blog
That concern is a real and serious one, but there is also a more direct and crude problem: parties (or their lawyers) bribing, or making backdoor deals with, the arbitrators to secure a favorable outcome.
US to keep negotiating texts ‘classified’
16-Aug-2017 Politico
The first USTR official said the negotiating texts will not be released to the public because they are “classified” documents. That’s consistent with past negotiations, but will give critics ammunition to complain the deal is being negotiated in secret.
RCEP trade ministers to meet next month in Philippines
16-Aug-2017 DNA
Trade ministers of 16 RCEP countries, including India and China, will meet next month in Philippines
Duterte’s RCEP push at ASEAN, implications on Philippines economy & development
16-Aug-2017 IBON
The more far-reaching implication of RCEP is for Philippines’s sovereignty in regulating foreign investments
Rising demands for data localization a response to weak data protection mechanisms
15-Aug-2017 Electronic Frontier Foundation
Don’t trust data localization exceptions in trade agreements to guarantee protection of personal data.
NAFTA 2.0: Will our feminist government walk the equality talk?
15-Aug-2017 The Globe and Mail
Renegotiating the agreement is an opportunity for Canada’s self-proclaimed feminist government to put words into action by tackling gender inequality and the structural barriers that female workers and business owners face across all three countries.
Trump’s racist agenda is not fair trade
15-Aug-2017 IATP
This system of dominance, already codified in NAFTA, is the system the Trump administration intends to preserve and strengthen in a new NAFTA. That new NAFTA will guarantee a strong foothold for structural racism.
US examines food standards
15-Aug-2017 Khmer Times
The United States, one of the Cambodia’s key trading partners, is going to assess sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards in Cambodia, opening up the opportunity for Cambodian agricultural products to be exported to the US.
India under pressure to ease protection of industry, agriculture at RCEP talks
15-Aug-2017 Businessline
India under pressure to raise its offer on eliminating tariffs on goods at the next RCEP round in Philippines
Canada suggests it could quit NAFTA talks over dispute mechanism
15-Aug-2017 Reuters
Canada laid down a tough line ahead of talks on modernizing NAFTA, suggesting it could walk away if the United States pushed to remove a key dispute-settlement mechanism in the trade deal.
India to restart FTA talks with Mauritius
15-Aug-2017 Live Mint
The decision to restart negotiations on India-Mauritius free trade agreement (FTA) follows a double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) signed last year.
Koya: Talks with PNG minister Pato fruitful
15-Aug-2017 Fiji Sun
The Minister for Industry, Trade, Tourism, Lands and Mineral Resources said the meeting involved discussions on the ‘way forward’ with the Melanesian Spearhead Group Trade Agreement.
Sri Lankan industrialists worry over China trade deal, cess removal
15-Aug-2017 Economy Next
Sri Lankan industrialists have voiced concern over a proposed free trade agreement with China and government plans to reduce import tariffs that protect them, saying they feared they might not be able to compete.
Freeland to press for new labour, environmental sections within NAFTA
14-Aug-2017 Ottawa Citizen
Chrystia Freeland will push for additional labour and environmental sections when she shares broad strokes of Canada’s goals for the upcoming NAFTA talks.
«Le moratoire de Québec était légitime», dit le Centre québécois en droit de l’environnement
12-Aug-2017 Le Devoir
Québec était en droit d’instituer un moratoire sur la fracturation hydraulique et Ottawa ne devrait pas compenser Lone Pine.
NAFTA, Trump and the cloud: What the negotiations mean for your personal data
12-Aug-2017 Global News
Washington wants few restrictions on cross-border data transfers and has taken aim at rules in other countries that require certain digital information to be stored on computers located within their national borders.
Africa-US AGOA trade talks end with no decision, waning enthusiasm
12-Aug-2017 Reuters
It is not clear whether the U.S. wants to change the AGOA deal before it expires in 2025 or extend it further - no decision was made on either count.
Food is at the center of US-UK trade concerns
11-Aug-2017 WBFO
Since it has been a member of the European Union, Britain has ratcheted up its standards. There’s a Europeanization of culinary culture. And we’re going to see whether it becomes the McDonaldization of culture.
RCEP will undo the gains of food self-sufficiency built so assiduously over the decades
11-Aug-2017 Ground Reality
International trade negotiations currently underway hold a big threat to the future of Indian agriculture