Law Commons^™

Political Implications Of Foreign Investment In The United States, Daniel K. Inouye

Mercer Law Review

In 1973, an unprecedented inflow of foreign investment into the United States caught American policy-makers and the general public totally unprepared for the experience. In that year alone, foreign direct investment (FDI) increased by $3.42 billion, more than a three-fold increase over the previous year, representing a 23 per cent rise in the aggregate foreign direct investment in the United States.

In addition to direct investment, portfolio equity investment amounted to $24.8 billion, for a total long-term equity investment in 1973 of $43 billion. The total for 1974, the beginning of the recent global recession, showed similar growth. FDI for …

Foreign Investors And Equal Protection, John R. Liebman, Beth Levine

Mercer Law Review

Few recent developments in the realm of multinational finance have found as raw a nerve as the flow of foreign capital into the domestic American economy. In the recent past, foreign investments here have increased at a much faster rate than U.S. investments abroad. Foreign investment in the United States stood at 15% of total U.S. investment abroad in 1972; by 1974, that ratio had increased to 18%. Moreover, the mix of foreign investment has shifted from such non-manufacturing industries as insurance, petroleum, and retail trade to manufacturing, which now accounts for nearly half of all foreign investments in the …

Is Georgia On Their Minds?--Some Legal Aspects Of Investment And Trade By Foreign Business Enterprises, Gabriel M. Wilner, Terri K. Smith

Mercer Law Review

Traveling north on 1-75 through Macon, Georgia, a motorist will pass a billboard, looking much like a zipper, which boasts the name of the world's largest zipper manufacturer. What the sign does not mention is that the company, YKK Zipper Company, Inc., is a subsidiary of Yoshida Kogyo K.K. which is headquartered in Tokyo. This business entity is just one of the many in a growing number of businesses which are presently operating within Georgia and which are established in, or have legal connections with, business entities outside the United States.

With the increasing interdependence among nations in a multitude …

Encouraging Foreign Investment In The United States By Limiting The President's Emergency Authority Under The Trading With The Enemy Act, Michael T. Sawyier

Mercer Law Review

Recently the House passed, in slightly amended form, the National Emergencies Act, first passed by the Senate in 1974, under which most of the vast emergency powers delegated to the President by Congress during the past sixty years are to be restricted or eliminated and the various states of emergency now in effect terminated except in certain respects. One of the areas in which emergency power will still prevail, at lease in potential, is that of the regulation of foreign investment in the United States. While popular and legislative attention has been focused on the alleged threat of a "petrodollar" …

U.S.-Soviet Trade: Problems And Prospects, S. Osofsky

Mercer Law Review

Before the Second World War, U.S. trade with the Soviet Union involved the U.S. export of machinery and equipment, and the import of minerals and animal products. Imports were normally one-fourth or one third of the volume of exports. U.S. exports peaked in 1930 and 1931 with exports of $114 million and $104 million. U.S. exports to the Soviet Union never represented more than 2% of total U.S. exports, whereas Soviet imports from the United States at times constituted some 25% of total imports. With political recognition in 1933 came hopes of a dramatic upsurge in trade, but the failure …

New Departures In Multilateral Trade, Development And Cooperation: The Lome Convention And Its Impact On The United States, Edward A. Laing

Mercer Law Review

On February 28, 1975, the European Economic Community (EEC) and 46 states of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, signed the ACP-EEC Lome Convention at Lome, the capital of Togo. The Convention, which marks the culmination of a series of arrangements commencing in 1957 between the EEC and African territories on trade and aid relationships, has been hailed as a very significant and an unique instrument. It will now be discussed in the context of several general trends in multilateral trade, development and cooperation and an assessment of its impact on the United States will be made.

Banks--International--Analysis Of Georgia's International Bank Agency Act, Harry W. Krumenauer

Mercer Law Review

This article will examine Part V of the Financial Institutions Code of Georgia, the International Bank Agency Act, and its interrelationship with Parts I and II of the Financial Institutions Code governing domestic banking. The effect of the Foreign Corporations Chapter of the Corporation Code of Georgia on Part V of the Financial Institutions Code will also be considered. A comparison will be made between Part V of the Financial Institutions Code and the codes of New York and California relating to international banking. Attention will be given to problems which have arisen in other states and how these problems …

The U.S. International Trade Commission's 30-Day Inquiry Under The Antidumping Act: Section 201 (C)(2), John F. Mcdermid, F. David Foster

Mercer Law Review

In 1921, a new antidumping act was enacted into domestic law., The Antidumping Act of 1921 was part of a coordinated effort by the U.S. government to protect infant U.S. industries, particularly the petrochemical industry which burgeoned during World War I, from the increasing competition of European industries seeking markets to utilize capacity which had been devoted to war efforts. The Act was directed against international price discrimination, and the substance of its principal operative provision remained unchanged through a series of amendments. Basically, the Antidumping Act provides that articles imported into the United States will be subject to a …

The U.N. Economic Charter And U.S. Investment And Policy, G.A. Zaphiriou

Mercer Law Review

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States (the Economic Charter) on December 12, 1974, by a 120-6-10 vote. The background, the non-binding character of the Economic Charter, and some of its provisions have been analyzed in an article by Charles N. Brewer and John B. Tepe, Jr. which is based on a report approved by a subcommittee of the Section of International Law of the American Bar Association.

The purpose of the present analysis is:

1. To express a further opinion on the legal effect of the Economic Charter leading to the application …

The Multinational Corporation And Foreign Investment, John Sparkman

Mercer Law Review

The invitation for me to author an article for the Lead Articles Edition of the Mercer Law Review suggests that we might examine the international impact on the United States of foreign trade and investment. This subject, of course, can be approached in many different ways. I have chosen to focus on the subjects of foreign investment and the multinational corporation as those two matters may have impact on the general subject. These are two subjects which I believe must be given very careful attention as we go forward in developing a position for the United States in changing world …

The Burgeoning Development Of The Common Market Competition Rules And Its Impact On International Licensing, Marcus B. Finnegan

Mercer Law Review

Since formation of the European Economic Community (EEC), or the Common Market, by the Treaty of Rome of March 25, 1957, both licensors licensing into, and licensees licensing from, the EEC have had to concern themselves more and more with the effect of the Treaty articles on licensing into and out of the Common Market. The law of competition in the Community has been undergoing increasingly rapid development and refinement.

Not surprisingly, the emerging Community law governing competition has tended increasingly to model itself on the large and intricately developed body of antitrust law existing in the United States. Perhaps …

Current Problems Of Structuring Petrodollar Loans, Stuart R. Singer

Mercer Law Review

Rarely, if ever, have we seen a world in which trade has been carried out and investments made across national frontiers through the medium of freely available convertible currencies. The growth of multinational corporations on a large scale has, in the middle of the twentieth century, put the problem of transferability, convertibility, and financing to the forefront of the businessman's major problems. While it is true that the currencies of Western Europe and the other major trading partners of the United States are largely convertible for purposes of current account transactions, and while it is true that major banking groups …

Cooperative Federalism In International Trade: Its Constitutional Parameters, Harold G. Maier

Mercer Law Review

Traditionally, governmental activity to encourage and facilitate export trade and to encourage direct investment in the United States by foreign entrepreneurs has been the responsibility of the national government, especially the Departments of State and Commerce. During the last five years, however, a significant and growing role is being played by the governments of the several states in developing their own programs and policies to stimulate international trade and investment. This activity includes not only the more traditional advertising of opportunities but the active on-the-spot solicitation of business opportunities abroad. This solicitation is carried on by direct contact between state …

State Government In International Trade, Richard J. Allen

Mercer Law Review

The aim of this article is to review an international trade program as conceived, planned, and conducted by a state government in the United States. The program example selected is that of the State of Georgia.

I. HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM

The current program of activities of the State of Georgia in the field of international trade was begun in 1971 under the leadership of Louis W. Truman, Lieutenant General (United States Army, Retired), who was then Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Development. This state department, in common with such departments in many states of the United States, …

The Expanding Role Of The United States International Trade Commission, Daniel Minchew

Mercer Law Review

The Trade Act of 19741 has changed markedly the powers and responsibilities of the United States International Trade Commission (Commission). The authority of the Commission, formerly known as the United States Tariff Commission (Tariff Commission), now extends well beyond the tariff area. This article will examine the growth of the Commission's authority and structure and, perhaps, provide some insight into its possible future development.

Jurisdiction And Control Over The Multinational Enterprise: De Maximis Non Curat Lex, J. Shand Watson

Mercer Law Review

The current flurry in the legal literature caused by multinational enterprises is yet another indication that the existing systems of control in the domestic and international spheres are either stretched to their limits or else completely inadequate to their assigned tasks. Most writers indicate that the multinational enterprise (MNE),' however defined, is a strong force for good or evil and, consequently, must be subject to some degree of control; yet when that conclusion is discussed, the schools of thought that emerge are as numerous as the commentators.2 This article does not endeavor to provide answers to the current fetish, but …