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International Trade Law

International trade

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Articles 1 - 28 of 28

Full-Text Articles in International Trade Law

The $4 Billion Question: An Analysis Of Congressional Responses To The Fsc/Eti Dispute Under Wto Export Subsidy Standards, William Chou Jan 2005

The $4 Billion Question: An Analysis Of Congressional Responses To The Fsc/Eti Dispute Under Wto Export Subsidy Standards, William Chou

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

During the decade-long relationship between the United States and the World Trade Organization (WTO), perhaps no controversy has fomented as long and bitterly as the dispute over the U.S. tax benefits for exporters. This article analyzes two competing bills before the House of Representatives, both devised to bring the United States in compliance with the WTO's ruling against the U.S. Foreign Sale Corporation (FSC) and Exterritorial Income (ETI) tax regimes as prohibited export subsidies. Hit with a $4 billion retaliatory tariff by the European Union, the House sought new tax legislation that would preserve at least some of the tax …


Meaning, Ambiguity And Legitimacy: Judicial (Re-)Construction Of Nafta Chapter 11, Ari Afilalo Jan 2005

Meaning, Ambiguity And Legitimacy: Judicial (Re-)Construction Of Nafta Chapter 11, Ari Afilalo

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) benignly named the "Investment Chapter," is a theater for some of the most advanced issues of 21st century international law and adjudication. The Chapter gives private parties the right to challenge national policies that burden their ability to do business freely. It empowers arbitral tribunals to assess damages against the governments of NAFTA parties. The adjudicators, as this Article illustrates, render opinions with a constitutional flavor in that they assess the validity of domestic norms against larger principles of international economic law. In a drastic move away from classical century …


A Dual Catastrophe Of Protectionism, Sungjoon Cho Jan 2005

A Dual Catastrophe Of Protectionism, Sungjoon Cho

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Suppose that a consortium of wealthy and powerful local industries, acting through lawmakers captured by these industries, managed to pass a statute, damaging to the larger public welfare, purely for a protectionist purpose. Suppose further that this statute victimizes exports from a small, poor country such as Vietnam, to a large, rich country such as the United States, because these imported products are cheaper and thus pose a competitive threat to rival domestic industries. Suppose also that courts in the importing country can do little to stop this chain of events. Rational individuals might find these events objectionable, if not …


General Exclusion Orders Under Section 337, Gary M. Hnath Jan 2005

General Exclusion Orders Under Section 337, Gary M. Hnath

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Your company, Widgets Unlimited, imports foreign-made widgets into the United States. One day, you're informed that U.S. Customs & Border Protection (Customs) has detained your goods and is determining whether they infringe a patent owned by The American Widget Corporation, based on an exclusion order issued by the International Trade Commission (ITC) after a recent ITC investigation, titled Certain Widgets with Extra Shiny Surfaces. Since you were never a party to any proceeding at the ITC, and indeed, you never even knew American Widget had patents on its widgets, you conclude that there must be some mistake and wait for …


Convergence: Challenges, Controversies And Collaboration, David Van Zandt Jan 2005

Convergence: Challenges, Controversies And Collaboration, David Van Zandt

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

In this Symposium issue, the Northwestern Journal of International Law and Business has brought together seven outstanding commentators on the possibilities, complexities and controversies of convergence.


Injury Investigations In "Material Retardation" Antidumping Cases, Prakash Narayanan Jan 2004

Injury Investigations In "Material Retardation" Antidumping Cases, Prakash Narayanan

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Despite the criticisms of economists to antidumping measures, they continue to be the most often used trade remedy measure. A new trend that may be observed is the use of the "material retardation" standard of injury to demonstrate injury to domestic industry that is one of the requirements for imposing antidumping duty. It is essential to be wary of this trend as unlike the other two types of injury, the WTO lacks specific guidelines for the use of this standard. The general rules in the Antidumping Agreement are unsuitable for the situations where the material retardation standard is relevant, and …


Test Of Multilateralism In International Trade: U.S. Steel Safeguards, Y.S. Lee Jan 2004

Test Of Multilateralism In International Trade: U.S. Steel Safeguards, Y.S. Lee

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The highly publicized safeguard measures applied by the United States to an array of steel products in 2002 became one of the biggest and most controversial trade disputes in recent history. Virtually all major trading nations in the world, including the European Community, Japan , China , Brazil , Korea , New Zealand , Switzerland and Norway , were the direct parties to this dispute with the United States . The contentious legal grounds of the U.S. safeguard measures, as well as the lack of adequate consultations between the United States and its trading counterparts, have brought the international community …


Changing Notions Of Sovereignty And Federalism In The International Economic System: A Reassessment Of Wto Regulation Of Federal States And The Regional And Local Governments Within Their Territories, Edward T. Hayes Jan 2004

Changing Notions Of Sovereignty And Federalism In The International Economic System: A Reassessment Of Wto Regulation Of Federal States And The Regional And Local Governments Within Their Territories, Edward T. Hayes

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

International trade liberalization increasingly addresses disciplines which fall within the constitutional competence of regional and local governments. Traditional notions of nation/state sovereignty are evolving to recognize the importance of regional and local actors on the international economic scene. The ongoing evolution of international trade and sovereignty incresasingly places regional and local governments in a unique position to influence world trade, positively and negatively.

This article explores the manner in which the World Trade Organization attempts to regulate regional and local behavior. Specifically, this Article explores the inherent constitutional tension and resulting ambiguities in the WTO's effort to regulate regional and …


Trips' Rebound: An Historical Analysis Of How The Trips Agreement Can Ricochet Back Against The United States, Donald P. Harris Jan 2004

Trips' Rebound: An Historical Analysis Of How The Trips Agreement Can Ricochet Back Against The United States, Donald P. Harris

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Recently, scholars and commentators around the world have reexamined the role intellectual property rights (IPRs) play in hindering or helping developing countries. These scholars have questioned the doctrine the IPRs help developing countries by promoting economic development, increasing foreign direct investment, stimulating domestic innovation, and improving access to new technologies, and have concluded that imposing "Western-styled" intellectual property regimes (e.g., the U.S. patent regime) on developing countries harms those countries. In particular, such regimes fail to bring any of the purported benefits, while they impose many costs, including preventing people from obtaining life-saving drugs. This Article argues that it is …


The Spirit Of Trips And The Importation Of Medicines Made Under Compulsory License After The August 2003 Trips Council Agreement, Jessica J. Fayerman Jan 2004

The Spirit Of Trips And The Importation Of Medicines Made Under Compulsory License After The August 2003 Trips Council Agreement, Jessica J. Fayerman

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement has changed prospects for access to necessary medications in the developing world. The use of compulsory licensing for pharmaceutical products embodied in Article 31 of TRIPS has been a contentious issue. Prior to 2003, countries with no manufacturing capacity of their own were not allowed to import medicines made under compulsory license, rendering the protections of Article 31 of little use to them. The 2003 Motta Agreement changed this. This expansion of the compulsory licensing power is both an impractical solution and it dilutes the premises upon which TRIPS was originally …


Fallacy Of Federalism In Foreign Affairs: State And Local Foreign Policy Trade Restrictions, The , Howard N. Iii Fenton Jan 1993

Fallacy Of Federalism In Foreign Affairs: State And Local Foreign Policy Trade Restrictions, The , Howard N. Iii Fenton

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

State and local foreign trade restrictions represent the convergence of two main threads of the globalization of the U.S. experience, and raise a serious challenge to the historic allocation of foreign policy responsibility to the federal government. The internationalization of state and local economies is the first thread. The second is the heightened efforts of state, city and county governments to play a role in foreign affairs and foreign policy decisions. Where they meet finds states and cities using their new-found international economic leverage to influence not only United States' foreign policy, but the domestic policies of foreign nations as …


Case To Repeal The Antidumping Laws, The , Robert W. Mcgee Jan 1993

Case To Repeal The Antidumping Laws, The , Robert W. Mcgee

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Antidumping laws were designed to protect domestic industry from foreign competition. They protect producers at the expense of consumers, which results in higher prices, lower quality products, less consumer choice and a general lowering of the standard of living for the vast majority of people. Antidumping laws also destroy more jobs than they create.


Substantive Appraisal Of Horizontal Mergers Under Eec Regulation 4064/89: An Inquiry Into The Commission's First Year Decisions, Frank M. Hellemans Jan 1993

Substantive Appraisal Of Horizontal Mergers Under Eec Regulation 4064/89: An Inquiry Into The Commission's First Year Decisions, Frank M. Hellemans

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Rather, our purpose is to examine what criteria the Regulation prescribes for the substantive appraisal of mergers. We will not only scrutinize Article 2 of the Regulation and the different policies behind it, but we will also inquire into the Commission's decisions in order to find out how the Commission has applied the Regulation's substantive criteria to 'real live' mergers and acquisitions. Broadly speaking, this involves questions of product and geographic market definition, of calculating market shares and interpreting them and, finally, of basic goals of mergers control policy.


European Harmonization Of Data Protection Laws Threatens U.S. Participation In Trans Border Data Flow, George B. Trubow Jan 1992

European Harmonization Of Data Protection Laws Threatens U.S. Participation In Trans Border Data Flow, George B. Trubow

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

We are in the midst of "Europe '92," the year when the European Community (EC) is to take on new shape and substance as it seeks transformation to economic and political strategies intended to enhance its position in international trade and commerce. With respect to matters of information processing and transborder data flow, the Council of Europe has prepared a draft directive concerning privacy and security regarding personal information (Privacy Directive). That draft, under consideration by the member states, is of great importance to the rest of the world since it contemplates that EC members will not exchange information with …


Jurisdiction And The Court Of International Trade: Remarks Of The Honorable Gregory W. Carman At The Conference On International Business Practice Presented By The Center For Dispute Resolution On February 27-28, 1992, Gregory W. Carman Jan 1992

Jurisdiction And The Court Of International Trade: Remarks Of The Honorable Gregory W. Carman At The Conference On International Business Practice Presented By The Center For Dispute Resolution On February 27-28, 1992, Gregory W. Carman

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The United States and the other countries of the world will continue to develop rules and laws governing their relationships in international commercial matters as the years ensue. As part of that agenda, lawyers and members of the international trading community should be familiar with the dispute resolution provisions of the United States Court of International Trade and some of the procedural and substantive problems of the Court. The Court's function is to judicially review disputes under the customs and trade laws of the United States.


Critical Analysis Of Judicial Attempts To Reconcile The United States-Japan Friendship, Commerce And Navigation Treaty With Title Vii, A , Jeffrey J. Mayer Jan 1992

Critical Analysis Of Judicial Attempts To Reconcile The United States-Japan Friendship, Commerce And Navigation Treaty With Title Vii, A , Jeffrey J. Mayer

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper offers a practical solution to the conflict between civil rights and economic growth through a new, but sensible, interpretation of the "right to choose" provision. Part I explains the conflicting rulings of the five Courts of Appeals that have addressed this issue. Part II concludes that the courts' various reconciliations between Title VII and the Japan FCN Treaty are, in each case, impossible to apply consistently or fairly. Courts have wrongly attempted to preserve the protections of Title VII for American employees of foreign corporations by asking factfinders to draw impossibly fine distinctions between permissible and prohibited criteria …


Does The Government Really Help Small Business Exporters--An Analysis Of Pre-Export Financing Programs Under The Small Business Expansion Act Of 1980 And The Export Trading Company Act Of 1982, Toni P. Lester Jan 1992

Does The Government Really Help Small Business Exporters--An Analysis Of Pre-Export Financing Programs Under The Small Business Expansion Act Of 1980 And The Export Trading Company Act Of 1982, Toni P. Lester

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper will attempt to address these questions by examining the legislation and subsequent regulations that lead to the establishment of the SBA and Eximbank guarantee programs. First, there will be a brief discussion of the types of financing needed by small-business exporters and the problems they face when they try to get financing. The 1980's legislation, which attempted to redress some of those problems, as well as the regulations and guidelines that were adopted by the SBA and Eximbank to implement that legislation, will then be covered. Finally, based on an evaluation of the above regulations and guidelines, measures …


Legal Acceptance Of Electronic Documents, Writings, Signatures, And Notices In International Transportation Coventions: A Challenge In The Age Of Global Electronic Commerce, Judith Y. Gliniecki, Ceda G. Ogada Jan 1992

Legal Acceptance Of Electronic Documents, Writings, Signatures, And Notices In International Transportation Coventions: A Challenge In The Age Of Global Electronic Commerce, Judith Y. Gliniecki, Ceda G. Ogada

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper surveys a number of international transportation conventions with respect to their treatment of electronic means as acceptable methods of generating documents. In addition, this paper looks at the methods of satisfying the applicable formalities of writing, signature, and notice.


Current Administration Of U.S. Antidumping And Countervailing Duty Laws: Implications For Prospective U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Talks, Stephen J. Powell, Craig R. Giesse, Craig L. Jackson Jan 1990

Current Administration Of U.S. Antidumping And Countervailing Duty Laws: Implications For Prospective U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Talks, Stephen J. Powell, Craig R. Giesse, Craig L. Jackson

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

U.S.-Mexico trade relations are changing at a rapid pace. In 1985, the United States and Mexico entered into a bilateral trade agreement that seeks to eliminate the subsidization of manufactured products. One year later, Mexico became a signatory to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the "GATT"), the multilateral accord that governs world trade in manufactured and agricultural products. In 1987, the two countries entered into a framework agreement that establishes a consultative mechanism designed to resolve bilateral trade disputes involving such issues as intellectual property protection, direct foreign investment, and trade in goods and services.


Worker Rights In The Post-1992 European Communities: What "Social Europe" Means To United States-Based Multinational Employers, Donald C. Jr. Dowling Jan 1990

Worker Rights In The Post-1992 European Communities: What "Social Europe" Means To United States-Based Multinational Employers, Donald C. Jr. Dowling

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The United States media have extensively covered the trade angle of the European Communities [EC] program to create a "single market" by the end of 1992. The media coverage has spotlighted the benefits the EC market will offer multinational corporations, such as the market's "economies of scale" and its 320 million consumer block. By now this 1992 news has sunk in, and many United States corporations are assessing how they might exploit the soon-to-be unified EC market.


Trade Protectionism And Environmental Regulations: The New Nontariff Barriers, C. Ford Runge Jan 1990

Trade Protectionism And Environmental Regulations: The New Nontariff Barriers, C. Ford Runge

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This article reviews some economic and legal aspects of the growing role of environmental, health, and safety regulations operating as disguised barriers to trade. While this has always been a recognized problem in trade policy, the issue has gained new force as environmental policies move to the forefront of many national agendas. Because environmental standards have a growing national constituency, they are especially attractive candidates for disguised protectionism. International distinctions in the tolerable level of environmental risks are created because the weight attached to environmental standards tends to vary with the income levels of different countries. Incentives are created to …


United States Coastwise Trading Restrictions: A Comparison Of Recent Customs Service Rulings With The Legislative Purpose Of The Jones Act And The Demands Of A Global Economy, Robert L. Mcgeorge Jan 1990

United States Coastwise Trading Restrictions: A Comparison Of Recent Customs Service Rulings With The Legislative Purpose Of The Jones Act And The Demands Of A Global Economy, Robert L. Mcgeorge

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Fierce policy disputes are inevitable whenever two basic, widely-accepted principles intersect in a situation where one must prevail and the other give way. In the maritime field, these disputes occur whenever a nation-state is forced to choose between promoting free and open trade in maritime services or protecting its domestic merchant marine. The clash of these policies has generated vigorous debates in the United States on a wide variety of maritime issues (e.g., cargo preference requirements, operating and construction differential subsidies, vessel construction loan guarantee programs and whether to retaliate against foreign countries' attempts to reserve import and export trades …


Strangers In A Strange Land: Foreign Compulsion And The Extraterritorial Application Of United States Employment Law, Michael A. Jr. Warner Jan 1990

Strangers In A Strange Land: Foreign Compulsion And The Extraterritorial Application Of United States Employment Law, Michael A. Jr. Warner

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The increasingly interdependent nature of the world economy has made commonplace the overseas employment of United States citizens by United States multinational corporations. When an American company employs a United States citizen in a foreign country questions arise as to what extent the United States may regulate employment activity taking place outside of United States territorial boundaries. Historically, principles of territoriality and nationality have constrained the ability of a sovereign state to prescribe conduct occurring outside of its boundaries. Under traditional principles of jurisdiction, employee relations fell predominantly under the control of the local authorities where the person or persons …


Red Raspberries: Effective Dispute Settlement In The Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, Thomas M. Boddez, Alan M. Rugman Jan 1990

Red Raspberries: Effective Dispute Settlement In The Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, Thomas M. Boddez, Alan M. Rugman

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

By negotiating the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States, the Canadian government sought to ensure its exporters more secure and predictable access to the huge United States market, where a majority of Canadian foreign trade is conducted. Canadian exporters were especially concerned with the increased imposition of antidumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVD) by the United States. Trade laws in the United States are effected through the International Trade Commission (ITC) and the International Trade Administration of the Department of Commerce (ITA). These bodies are central to the bifurcated, quasi-judicial administrative system used in the United States to …


The Controls On The Transfrontier Movement Of Hazardous Waste From Developed To Developing Nations: The Goal Of A "Level Playing Field", Michelle M. Vilcheck Jan 1990

The Controls On The Transfrontier Movement Of Hazardous Waste From Developed To Developing Nations: The Goal Of A "Level Playing Field", Michelle M. Vilcheck

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

In the 1970s, the United States Congress began passing national environmental legislation. One reason for such legislation was to "level the playing field" among the fifty states so that economic advantage did not accrue to one state at the expense of environmental quality and public health.' The world now faces a similar need for environmental legislation on an international level. Environmental laws of individual nations have become more and more divergent as developed countries, such as the United States, enact tougher environmental laws, while less developed nations fail to enact any environmental regulations. The variant standards of these environmental laws …


Establishing American Trading Companies, Franklin A. Cole Jan 1980

Establishing American Trading Companies, Franklin A. Cole

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

On September 3, 1980, the United States Senate, by unanimous vote, passed landmark legislation designed to increase American ex- ports of products and services by encouraging formation of U.S. export trading companies.' The Export Trading Company Act of 1980,2 rein- troduced and at this writing awaiting approval by a new Congress,3 is a significant first step in offering American companies, particularly those of small and medium size, the opportunity to enter markets on a par with their international foreign competitors. The Act moderates re- strictions that have blocked the growth of full-range export trade ser- vice companies that would help …


United States Foreign Trade Policy: A Delicate Balancing Act, Robert S. Strauss Jan 1979

United States Foreign Trade Policy: A Delicate Balancing Act, Robert S. Strauss

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

World trade today involves one-sixth of everything that is grown or manufactured on this planet. Translated into dollars, this amounted to a value last year of one trillion dollars. Of this amount, $150 billion belongs to American agriculture and industry. The enormous stake of the United States in maintaining and encouraging the growth of its exports has led the present Administration to chart an enlightened and courageous trade policy of promoting free and fair trade. Rather than take the politically expedient course of protectionism, this Administration has embarked on the course of lowering barriers to fair trade to ensure the …


Zenith Radio Corp V. United States: The Demise Of Congressionally Mandated Countervailing Duties, Robert Dziubla Jan 1979

Zenith Radio Corp V. United States: The Demise Of Congressionally Mandated Countervailing Duties, Robert Dziubla

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The countervailing duty has long been a favorite tool of the Congress to achieve what it considers to be fair trade between the United States and her trading partners. Countervailing duties are extra duties imposed upon goods that enjoy subsidies, in whatever form, from a foreign government. In Zenith Radio Corp. v. United States, the Supreme Court agreed with the Department of Treasury that a remission by the Government of Japan of a domestic indirect commodity tax upon electronic goods was not a subsidy requiring a countervailing duty. This Note will suggest that the Court's dependence upon the legislative history …