The evolution of European Union Preferential Trade Agreements

Changes which have taken place in recent years in the foreign trade policy of the European Union are quite important and in particular include its attitude towards preferential trade agreements (PTAs). Although the EU’s trade policy history shows that PTAs have been used in the past, only in recent years has their importance increased. The Union is now linked to about 50 different trade liberalizing agreements. With the change of motives for undertaking bilateral negotiations, the spatial extent has also changed. Preferential trade agreements have become one of the primary means of creating the modern foreign trade policy of the European Union

The Welfare Effects of Imperfect Harmonization of Trade and Industrial Policy

Partial cooperation in setting trade policy may be worse than no cooperation for countries who form a customs union. The paper investigates three situations where this is likely to occur. First, if the countries forming the union comprise too small a percentage of the non-competitive sector of the industry, their cooperation may be disadvantageous for essentially the same reason that a merger may be disadvantageous in oligopolistic industries. Second, even if the countries forming the union comprise the entire non-competitive sector of industry, cooperation on trade policy may be disadvantageous if industrial policy (e.g. investment subsidies) are chosen non-cooperatively. The reason is that cooperation in trade policy may exacerbate the inefficiencies created by non-cooperation at an earlier stage. Third, cooperation in choosing trade policies may encourage excessive investment by competitive importers and thus reduce the demand faced by the oligopolists.Trade and industrial policy, imperfect competition, customs union, International Relations/Trade,

Completing the EU Customs Union. The Effects of Trade Procedure Harmonization

A main component of customs unions is a common trade policy on imports from non-member countries. Trade policy covers both tariff and non-tariff barriers like trade procedures. We argue that since trade procedures vary markedly across EU countries, the EU is not, strictly speaking, a customs union. To illustrate this, we estimate the impact of trade procedures on exports from non-EU countries and find a highly statistically significant and negative effect. Simulating what the effects would be of harmonizing trade procedures, i.e. to actually complete the EU customs union, we find that aggregated exports to the EU would increase by 20 percent for the average exporter.Customs Union; Economic Integration; European Union; Time Delays; Trade Facilitation; Trade Procedures

Polish agro-food trade with European countries before and after joining EU

Foreign trade in agricultural and food products is a very important component of trade and agricultural policy. In the recent years these policies change influencing on the result of this trade and indirectly on food producers as well as consumers. The aim of this paper is look through the agri - food trade between Poland and European Union countries and the process of Poland's integration with the European Union which had an essential impact on trade between the member countries. The integration process connected with transition from a protective trade policy to a liberal trade policy was favourable for Poland. From 1989 to 2003, the volume of trade turnover in agri- food products between Poland and European Union increased over twofold. The European Union member states are main trading partners of Poland. They accounted for over half (51.6%) of the turnover in farm and food trade in 2003. The main partners on the export side are: Germany, Netherlands, Great Britain and Italy; and on the import side are Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Italy. Trade in farm and food goods with the European Union was favourable for Poland for the first time since 2003. Poland has gained trade advantages in the food sector after integration with the EU.agricultural trade, products' structure, trade agreements with EU, International Relations/Trade,

Regional Trade Integration in East Africa: Trade and Revenue Impacts of the Planned East African Community Customs Union

The paper provides empirical estimates for import and revenue implications that would follow implementation of the planned customs union between the East African Community member states Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. We use 2002 trade and trade policy data for the three countries to simulate the effect of the common external tariff and other trade policy changes that will follow the customs union implementation on import flows and customs revenue. We also discuss customs exemptions and the effect of the customs union implementation on balance of payments.International Trade, Regional Integration, Africa, East African Community (EAC), Fiscal Impacts, Balance of Payments Effects of Trade Integration

Optimal Central Bank Conservatism and Monopoly Trade Unions

OPTIMThe “conservative central banker” has come under attack recently. Explicitly modeling the interaction of a trade union with monetary policy, it has been argued that the standard solution to the inflationary bias in monetary policy might actually be welfare reducing if the trade union has an exogenously given preference against inflation. We reframe this discussion in a standard trade union model. We show that the case against the conservative central banker rests exclusively on the assumption of a strictly nominal outside option (for instance, unemployment benefits) for the union. There is no welfare gain associated with making the central bank less conservative than society, however if the outside option is in real terms. As the nominal components of the trade union’s outside option are mainly public transfers, we also show that the conservative central banker is always optimal if the government can choose the level of unemployment benefits as well as the degree of central bank conservatism.Central bank, monetary policy, trade unions, conservative central banker

Extending European Cooperation: The European Union and the 'New' International Trade Agenda

trade policy; cohesion policy; acquis communautaire; Treaty on European Union

The economics of customs unions in the Commonwealth of Independent States

In the aftermath of the breakup of the Soviet Union, trade among the new independent states collapsed. To help reestablish interstate trade, the 12 members of the Commonwealth of independent States (CIS) established a Free Trade Area. More recently, four members of the CIS -Belarus, Kazakstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Russia- agreed in principle to establish a Customs Union. The authors analyze the economic implications for potential members of establishing such a Customs Union. They conclude that the dynamic effects of the Union (and the Free Trade Area) are likely to be negative, because they would tend to be mixed but would be more harmful to countries that have already established relatively liberal trade regimes with lower average and less-differentiated tariffs than the common external tariff contemplated by the proposed Customs Union.Common Carriers Industry,Environmental Economics&Policies,Rules of Origin,Economic Theory&Research,Trade Policy,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Trade and Regional Integration,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Trade Policy

US AND EU TRADE POLICIES AND EAST ASIA

This article identifies a number of examples of apparent lack of coherence in United States and European Union trade policies. They include the effect of preferential policies that lock in trade shares and inhibit growth promoting structural adjustment, biases in tariff structures, policies that affect incentives of developing countries to make commitments in the World Trade Organisation, the use of anti-dumping actions and the nature of tariff peaks and escalation. The origins of the lack of policy coherence lie within the domestic policy-making processes of the developed economies. An important question, then, is whether opportunity exists for East Asian economies to mobilise to induce an external shock sufficient to shift policy consensus in the United States and the European Union The key elements of such a grand bargain on trade in manufactured goods would include an explicit East Asian commitment to bind more tariff lines, initiatives to resolve the problem of accelerating anti-dumping actions and a replacement for the program of tariff preferences. A package of trade policy reforms of this type in East Asia would constitute a substantial offer and benefit to the United States and the European Union. It has the potential to trigger a response of equal benefit to East Asian economies.US, EU, trade policy, East Asia

The border effect in agricultural markets between European Union, OECD and LDC countries

border effect, gravity equation, agricultural trade, European Union, LDCs, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, F13, F14, Q17,