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Explaining Trade Agreements: The Practitioners' Story And The Standard Model, Donald H. Regan Jul 2015

Explaining Trade Agreements: The Practitioners' Story And The Standard Model, Donald H. Regan

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There are two widely accepted explanations of why politically motivated governments make trade agreements. There is an informal explanation, which I shall call the ′practitioners′ story′, even though it is most economists′ informal view as well. And there is a formal explanation in the economics literature, which I shall call the ′standard model′, referring to the basic structure shared by the Bagwell-Staiger and Grossman-Helpman models. Unfortunately, the practitioners′ story and the standard model contradict each other at every crucial point. For example, in the practitioners′ story, trade agreements are about reducing politically motivated protectionism; and getting an agreement depends on …


Measures With Multiple Purposes: Puzzles From Ec-Seal Products, Donald H. Regan Jun 2015

Measures With Multiple Purposes: Puzzles From Ec-Seal Products, Donald H. Regan

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European Communities—Measures Prohibiting the Importation and Marketing of Seal Products is the first case in which the dispute system of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has wrestled with a regulation that pursued multiple conflicting, legitimate purposes. (I will explain later why Brazil—Retreaded Tyres is not such a case.) This generates puzzles about applying the definition of a “technical regulation” to complex measures; about whether an exception to a ban can be justified by a purpose different from that of the ban; and about how to apply “less restrictive alternative” analysis to measures with multiple goals. The first of these puzzles …


Ec – Seal Products: Seals And Sensibilities (Tbt Aspects Of The Panel And Appellate Body Reports), Donald H. Regan Apr 2015

Ec – Seal Products: Seals And Sensibilities (Tbt Aspects Of The Panel And Appellate Body Reports), Donald H. Regan

Articles

The EC-Seal Products case stemmed from complaints by Canada and Norway against European Union regulations that effectively banned the importation and marketing of seal products from those countries. The EU said it had responded to European moral outrage at the killing of seals. Canada and Norway challenged the regime under various provisions of the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement and the GATT. This article considers TBT aspects of the Panel and Appellate Body decisions. It discusses issues such as whether there is any bright line to be drawn between legitimate and illegitimate purposes in regulation, the proper legal meaning …