Making Free Trade Deals Work for Small Business: A Proposal for Reform of Rules of Origin

Author(s):  
Dan Ciuriak
2018 ◽  
Vol 108 (8) ◽  
pp. 2335-2365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Conconi ◽  
Manuel García-Santana ◽  
Laura Puccio ◽  
Roberto Venturini

Recent decades have witnessed a surge of trade in intermediate goods and a proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs). FTAs use rules of origin (RoO) to distinguish goods originating from member countries from those originating from third countries. We focus on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the world’s largest FTA, and construct a unique dataset that allows us to map the input-output linkages in its RoO. Exploiting cross-product and cross-country variation in treatment over time, we show that NAFTA RoO led to a sizable reduction in imports of intermediate goods from third countries relative to NAFTA partners. (JEL F13, F15, F23, L14, O19)


2018 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 510-513 ◽  

Consistent with his approach on the campaign trail, President Trump has demonstrated a continued interest in revamping U.S. trade agreements. By the late spring of 2018, the Trump administration had negotiated modest changes to the United States-Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) in favor of U.S. interests. It had yet to reach any final agreement with regard to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), despite the expiration of an initial deadline that was designed to ensure adequate time for a vote on the negotiated agreement by the present Congress. To ease the passage of future trade deals, Trump has triggered the three-year extension of a process that provides expedited congressional consideration of negotiated trade agreements.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-185
Author(s):  
Jong Bum Kim

ABSTRACT A cross-cumulation arrangement helps manufacturers meet the demands of the global value chain economy by facilitating the sourcing of intermediate products within the territories of participants in the arrangement. It is a de facto free-trade area formed by a network of bilateral free-trade areas underpinning the arrangement. However, a cross-cumulation clause provided in a bilateral free-trade area that underpins a cross-cumulation arrangement is inconsistent with General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Articles I and III because the intermediate products from the participants in the arrangement are more favorably treated than products from non-participants in the arrangement. The GATT inconsistencies of a cross-cumulation clause cannot be justified by the GATT Article XXIV exception, because a cross-cumulation clause of a bilateral free-trade area derogates from the free-trade area’s aim by facilitating trade in intermediate products between the free-trade area parties and non-parties to the free-trade area that are participants in the arrangement. In contrast, a cumulation clause provided in a free-trade area contributes to the free-trade area’s aim by facilitating trade in intermediate products between the parties to the free-trade area. To bring a cross-cumulation arrangement such as the Regional Convention on Pan-Euro-Med Preferential Rules of Origin into conformity with World Trade Organization law, the arrangement and its underlying free-trade areas should be recognized as a de jure free-trade area under GATT Article XXIV and notified to the World Trade Organization as such. A large cross-cumulation arrangement as a mega-free-trade area is likely to contribute to the world trading system by harmonizing divergent free-trade area rules of origin and providing an efficient mechanism for the formation of a mega-free-trade area.


Significance This follows a meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Philippine counterpart, Rodrigo Duterte, on November 13 during Trump's visit to Manila for the 40th US-ASEAN Summit. Impacts Manila will warm ties with Washington once more, but also with Beijing and Moscow. The Philippine government will also seek free trade deals (multilateral and bilateral) with other regional powers. US government pressure on Philippine human rights protections will likely be restrained in favour of trade.


Significance US President Donald Trump has left the Trans-Pacific Partnership and escalated trade frictions with China. The USMCA, by contrast, shows a trade deal renegotiated, the implementation of which will be watched for its implications for other US trade activity, especially with the presidential election coming in November. Impacts COVID-19 disruptions mean some aspects of the USMCA, such as rules of origin, will be delayed. If Trump is re-elected, he will continue his tariff-driven efforts to secure Chinese economic reform for US firms. Biden would aspire to strengthen US-Asian trade ties but would focus first on smoothing trade with existing partners. China and neighbours should assume a Mexican challenge to their production, especially of autos, steel and textiles. Trump will tout the USMCA as evidence his trade reform agenda works.


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