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Q & A on IPEF (“Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity”)
5-Sep-2022
The IPEF is the US’s latest strategy to be the global rule-maker on trade, food production, digital and data, the climate crisis, regulating services, corporate power to influence new laws, multinationals’ tax rates, and much else.
US looking to lock in Pacific with new economic framework
5-Sep-2022 PANG
This week Trade Ministers from eleven countries will meet with the view to launch negotiations for an Indo-Pacific economic agreement.
Some implications of the digital economy paragraph of the leaked draft ministerial text for IPEF trade pillar
2-Sep-2022
The US will host the first in-person IPEF Ministerial meeting in Los Angeles from 8-9 September 2022, which is expected to launch formal negotiations. Some countries may decide not to remain involved in some or all of the IPEF’s “pillars”.
South Korea to appeal international tribunal’s order to pay Lone Star By Kim Arin
1-Sep-2022 Korea Herald
South Korea plans to seek annulment of an international tribunal’s verdict to compensate Lone Star Funds in a decade long investor-to-state dispute arbitration.
S. Korea ordered to pay Lone Star US$216.5 mln in investor-state suit
31-Aug-2022 Yonhap
An international tribunal ordered South Korea to pay the US private equity firm Lone Star Funds US$216.5 million, bringing an end to a decade long legal battle surrounding its sell-off of a local bank.
Canada challenges US softwood lumber duties under USMCA trade pact
30-Aug-2022 The Globe and Mail
International Trade Minister Mary Ng says Canada is formally initiating a challenge against “unwarranted and unfair” U.S. duties on Canadian softwood lumber.
Minister says inflation law ‘highly likely’ to violate FTA
30-Aug-2022 The Investor
South Korean Minister of Trade Industry and Energy said the US Inflation Reduction Act that bans tax benefits for electric vehicles built outside of North America is highly likely to breach the US-Korea FTA and WTO rules.
Hogging the gains from trade in Mexico
26-Aug-2022 Medium
The multinational pork giant Smithfield, now owned by a Chinese firm, took advantage of trade, investment, labor, environmental, and immigration policies, after NAFTA, to expand its low-wage factory farming model on both sides of the US-Mexico border.
Tensions rise as Korea waits for verdict on Lone Star dispute
26-Aug-2022 Korea Herald
The Korean public has been in outrage over the matter for more than a decade, claiming that the case was an international “fraud” committed by an overseas private equity firm.
Kenya’s GDPR-style legislation threatens US firms’ x-border data transfer model
24-Aug-2022 Pymnts
In the Kenyan context, Meta’s GDPR woes may be avoided if the U.S. gets its way in a proposed free trade deal between the two countries which is currently in discussions.
The New U.S. Africa Strategy Breaks From the Status Quo—With Some Perplexing Stumbles
16-Aug-2022 Carnegie Endowment
U.S. positioning for the great power competition with China and Russia for influence in Africa.
Taiwan-US trade deal talks to start soon: John Deng
15-Aug-2022 Taipei Times
The Taiwan and US will hopefully reach an agreement before an APEC summit in the US late next year, Taiwan’s chief trade negotiator said.
Morocco, only country in Africa having FTA with USA, State department report
2-Aug-2022 North Africa Post
The FTA supports Morocco’s goals to develop as a regional financial and trade hub, providing opportunities for the localization of services and the finishing and re-export of goods to markets in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, says the report.
Congress could consider CAFTA-DR changes
26-Jul-2022 ST&R
A recent report lays out several changes that lawmakers could consider to the CAFTA-DR free trade agreement between the US and six Latin American countries, but as yet there is no clear path forward on any such measures in Congress.
US to host virtual meeting on Tuesday of Indo-Pacific trade, economic ministers
25-Jul-2022 Reuters
President Joe Biden, who launched the IPEF in May on a trip to Tokyo, wants to use it as a way to raise environmental, labor and other standards across Asia.
100+ civil society groups ask White House for transparency in IPEF deal
25-Jul-2022 Public Citizen
Public, congressional input is essential to prevent another TPP.
U.S., Kenya launch non-tariff trade and investment partnership talks
22-Jul-2022 Reuters
Kenya exported $685.1 million worth of goods to the United States in 2021, of which more than 75% entered duty free under AGOA, according to the Congressional Research Service
US, Canada demand trade dispute talks over Mexican energy policies
21-Jul-2022 Reuters
The United States and Canada demanded dispute settlement talks with Mexico under a North American trade deal, charging that Mexican energy policies were discriminatory and "undermine" international firms and cross-border supplies.
US says Mexico energy policy violates trade deal; opens dispute
20-Jul-2022 Bloomberg
Biden team requests dispute-settlement talks under USMCA deal. USTR argues Mexico’s favoring of state utility breaks pact.
Petro wants FTA with US repenned
20-Jul-2022 MercoPress
Colombia’s President-elect and US Ambassador to Bogotá met to discuss common goals with the incoming administration which might include renegotiating the Free Trade Agreement signed ten years ago between the two countries.