Latest news with #WTO
Time of India
an hour ago
- Business
- Time of India
Kela, feeling very akela
A banana from Ecuador is at the therapist, sobbing When did the trauma begin?Banana: At the WTO summit . I was labelled 'non-essential'.Therapist: Go They slapped a 35% tariff on my potassium dreams! Suddenly, consumers found domestic bananas more emotionally available. I had rejection trauma. Even plantains stopped replying to my Classic protectionism-triggered identity crisis. You're not alone - I had a steel beam in here last week spiralling over anti-dumping duties.A new dating app launches calledFree Trade Agreement for something flexible? But my Exico won't stop left if you're into regulatory harmonisation. I like long walks in Brussels and labelling right if you value autonomy. I'm emotionally tariffed - high walls but soulful Britain: Still figuring out what I'm looking for. Must love sovereignty and mild app crashes. Turns out that none of them want a mutually beneficial relationship.
Economic Times
2 hours ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Kela, feeling very akela
A banana from Ecuador is at the therapist, sobbing When did the trauma begin?Banana: At the WTO summit . I was labelled 'non-essential'.Therapist: Go They slapped a 35% tariff on my potassium dreams! Suddenly, consumers found domestic bananas more emotionally available. I had rejection trauma. Even plantains stopped replying to my Classic protectionism-triggered identity crisis. You're not alone - I had a steel beam in here last week spiralling over anti-dumping duties.A new dating app launches calledFree Trade Agreement for something flexible? But my Exico won't stop left if you're into regulatory harmonisation. I like long walks in Brussels and labelling right if you value autonomy. I'm emotionally tariffed - high walls but soulful Britain: Still figuring out what I'm looking for. Must love sovereignty and mild app crashes. Turns out that none of them want a mutually beneficial relationship.
NDTV
6 hours ago
- Business
- NDTV
Trade Deals vs WTO: Is Trump Hastening The World Trade Organization's Demise?
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a key institution of global governance that was founded in 1995 as a successor to the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), established in the wake of World War II. The period just before the Second World War was an era of protectionism that saw high tariffs imposed by the US, and the GATT was signed by 23 countries in 1947 to tackle the tariff barriers and facilitate international trade. The current Trump tariffs may not be mimicking the pre-WWII period, but they are certainly reminiscent of that. The world has witnessed the impact of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of the 1930s. So, the question that arises is, why would US President Donald Trump tread a similar path a century later? There is a growing viewpoint that the Trump administration is using tariffs as a negotiating tool to pressure countries to strike bilateral trade deals with the United States. While sovereign nations are free to decide what works in their interest, America's stress on bilateral deals is a more nuanced move. At the heart of this move is a strategic shift that risks rendering the World Trade Organization irrelevant. This is because one of the basic principles of the WTO is non-discrimination - Most Favoured Nation (MFN) and National Treatment (NT). That means member countries need to extend similar concessions to all members in the WTO. So, if President Trump strikes trade deals with a few countries and drops the tariffs for them, for example, on steel and aluminum, while continuing with high tariffs for some other countries, it would be flouting the WTO principle. In essence, any preferential treatment emerging from the deals would undermine the MFN concept - even though the cover that the US could use is one of the two exceptions under MFN - that Free Trade Agreements are valid if they are comprehensive. Political scientists like Timothy Sinclair, Margaret Karns, and Karen Mingst stress that the power of a high-profile subset of key intergovernmental organizations - like WTO - rests on mutual benefits from conformity to the system. The US is clearly deviating from conforming to a system of which it was at the forefront of building. At this moment, it appears that President Trump is the executioner-in-chief of this strategy of deviation; however, one of the first steps towards weakening the WTO was taken during the Obama administration and later followed up by the first Trump administration. The Dispute Settlement System (DSS), a vital organ of the trading system, is being virtually strangled due to a lack of quorum in its Appellate Body (AB). Through three US administrations, starting with President Barack Obama's, Washington has accused the WTO's Appellate Body of overstepping its boundaries, making new trade rules in its decisions that were not negotiated by the WTO's 166 member economies. In 2016, the US blocked the reappointment of a South Korean judge to the Appellate Body. In 2018, the Trump administration blocked the reappointment of two other judges, rendering the Appellate Body non-functional. Conservative US think tanks have alleged bias by judges in the Appellate Body, demanding that the US completely withdraw from the WTO. A write-up in the Heritage Foundation by Andrew Hale in March 2024 said that judges had repeatedly shown bias against the US and in favour of their home countries. 'These biased judges have ruled against the US at least partially in 90% of cases, and the US became the most sued-against country at the WTO, despite the fact that we arguably have the freest trade system in the world.' This is not just the Conservative viewpoint, it seems to have bipartisan support despite not being entirely rooted in reality. Late last year, the then-outgoing American ambassador to the WTO, Maria Pagan, had warned that if the world wanted the US to be part of the international rules-based trading system, then it should 'take us seriously". The United States, which had emerged as the strongest economy after World War II, was the driving force in the international trade regime back in the day. 'Nothing of consequence was achieved without US leadership. Today, this is no longer the case,' said Keith M. Rockwell in Postcard From A Disintegration: Inside the WTO's Fraying Seams. The US is now the world's second-largest trading nation, pushed behind China. Rockwell believes that the Cold War mentality gripping Washington stems from its anxiety over China. The US believes 'China has somehow rigged the multilateral trading system, shirked its responsibilities, and gamed the dispute settlement function". Hence, it appears that the US stand on the Appellate Body is either to destabilise the WTO leading to its demise or to use it as a lever to negotiate on its terms on contentious issues like self-designation of developing countries, agricultural subsidies and Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) - all of which have seen a pushback from the Global South in the past. In an article titled The Global South in the WTO: Time to Go on the Offensive, published by Foreign Policy in Focus, Walden Bello says that as resistance by developing countries under the leadership of India, Brazil, and China to attempted restrictive moves of the US in the WTO grew, 'the United States began to move away from a strategy of multilateral trade liberalization via the WTO". In fact, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Global Policy, Kristen Hopewell, wrote in 2023 that China and India formed a surprising alliance at the WTO that has been highly successful in bringing an end to American dominance and sharply curtailing the ability of the US to set the rules of global trade, which has resulted in a 'vertical forum shifting' by the dominant power; it is now at the brink of abandoning the WTO and pursuing bilateral trade more actively. This is underway with President Trump's multiple trade deal dialogues currently - from India to Canada and Indonesia. The US has trade relations with more than 200 countries, territories, and regional associations around the globe. With over $7.0 trillion in exports and imports of goods and services in 2022, per the Office of the US Trade Representative, the significance of the US participation in a rules-based trading system cannot be overstated. But with nations being compelled to seal bilateral deals with the US in a hurry, they may end up collectively helping the US write the WTO's epitaph.
Hans India
6 hours ago
- Business
- Hans India
Shri Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD and CEO, NSE shares his views on the historic trade deal between India and UK
Today, 24th July 25, would be considered a historic day because today India and UK entered into a free trade agreement, which is a very important agreement in the history between two countries in terms of trade. Today, Honorable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, and Honorable Prime Minister of UK, Shri K Starmer, both along with the Commerce Ministers on both sides were present along with other important ministers. The free trade agreement between two countries is actually independent in a way of the multilateral arrangements that India has had in terms of WTO and other things. This is actually because 99% of all the exports, which India does, will now be covered under this. And almost zero tax, almost all of them will attract from fisheries to agriculture, to pharmaceuticals, to engineering exports, to literally every aspect, including cars and electric cars. We are going to have a free trade, literally zero tax from goods getting exported from India. Today, India and UK have a bilateral trade of around $56 billion, out of which $24 billion is merchandise exports and $32 billion is services. $24 billion is merchandise trade. And India is overall around $10 to $12 billion in surplus. But going forward, Indian professionals working in UK will not have to pay up to three years of social security tax, because they're not going to stay there for longer. And till the time they were paying that and almost 4000 crore a year, even now is going to be saved. Going forward, the visa framework is going to be easier and even Indian professionals will be able to work without office for a very long period. So I think that overall, there's going to be much larger saving going forward. Total target is to increase the bilateral trade from current $56 billion to $120 billion and probably it will be even larger because the leather and textiles and other goods exports itself, which used to attract some amount of tariff will be zero taxed and it will create a huge amount of jobs in India going forward. So for me, this is also a template for India to do a free trade agreement with other countries like US or EU, and even Japan for that matter. And that's going to be an interesting play. The other part is that the free trade agreement was being discussed for years between the Conservative government and the Indian BJP government for years. And when the Labour government came into play last year at UK, many people thought that now the free trade agreement between India and UK may not happen. But things have gone in the right direction. Today, I was there at the Honourable UK Prime Minister's country residence where this historic deal was signed. And that has removed a lot of cobwebs between the relationship between two countries, but also started a new chapter and kind of a first stepping stone because the entire multilateral trading system is slowly breaking down and the US is a leader in terms of ensuring that this happens. The breaking down of multilateral framework, which was against the US's interest and against even EU or UK or India's interest is actually happening. UK has taken lead in signing this particular agreement despite the new government taking the baton from the older government to discuss with us. Naturally, India had to also give some concessions to their side where almost 90% of their exports to India will also be in a way going at a very low duty or almost duty free. And they expect to have many Indian companies set up a shop in AI, in many other places or many other industries in UK. And so UK also expects to benefit quite a lot in terms of creation of more jobs. And naturally, India has also need for creating jobs and also increasing its exports to developed countries where the relation can be good. India has become very good, not only in services, but now also high tech exports like mobile phones and servers and other things and now even chips are going to be exported. But overall, this is a win-win deal which has been signed. And I'm sure we need to also thank the Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji but in addition, we also need to thank the Commerce Minister Shri Piyush Goyal Ji for sticking to the agenda and getting a very beneficial trade agreement, SEPA, between India and UK signed today.
Economic Times
a day ago
- Business
- Economic Times
The WTO moment: Why India must lead the reform agenda for a rules-based global order
Reuters India has been able lift nearly 500 mn people out of poverty since WTO came into being in 1995, and has now become the fourth-largest economy. Soon after attending the Rio BRICS summit earlier this month, Narendra Modi tweeted: 'BRICS is an organisation capable of changing itself with the times. Now we need the same resolve for reforms in institutions like the UN Security Council, WTO and multilateral development banks.' He was also sending a signal to the US that much has to be done in various fora to promote genuine DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was also there at Rio, retweeted, 'Looking forward to your political will and leadership to move things in Geneva to do the deep reforms that we need.' Her couched worry was that New Delhi has not been on the boat for the reforms agenda, as India - along with the likes of Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa and the US - didn't sign the statement in support of WTO's role at the core of the rules-based multilateral trading system (MTS) in May, which was supported by over 45 WTO members. This was disheartening for developing countries in WTO, considering India claims to be a 'leader of global south'. Much has been written about the decline of the normative authority of WTO over the past decade. But there is less discourse around WTO as a global public good and a bulwark of the rules-based MTS. The need of the hour is to cultivate a positive narrative around WTO's centrality in the global trade architecture, to create a conducive environment for undertaking meaningful WTO reform. India, which is aiming to be a developed nation by 2047, has to rise above its prejudices and lend its support to WTO and willing countries, for its own benefit. Some headline numbers are instructive. 70-80% of global merchandise trade still occurs on MFN, rather than preferential, terms. Predictability and stability underwritten by the Gatt/WTO system has raised world trade volumes by over 45x levels in the 1950s, stimulating economic growth and creating jobs, and benefiting both producers and consumers around the has been able lift nearly 500 mn people out of poverty since WTO came into being in 1995, and has now become the fourth-largest economy. As a founder member, it's one among 166 members. WTO remains the only forum for countries across varying levels of economic development to have open discussions on trade in the popular imagination, WTO is being perceived as dysfunctional. Although significant work continues to be undertaken in various WTO committees that deal with the nuts and bolts of trade irritants between member countries, stalemate in the organisation's negotiating function is certainly a cause of to that is the continuing impasse in its dispute settlement function. Combined with increasing divergence among WTO members on its foundational premises, and an onslaught of unilateralism and lack of trust between trading partners, advancing a WTO reform agenda is becoming increasingly challenging - and is in a crisis. However, there is also a sense that expecting any radical overhaul in the present circumstances would be a vain hope. While WTO members broadly agree about the need for institutional reform in general, any consensus, on what shape a reform package can take, which elements can be prioritised, and what could be the most pragmatic way of achieving them will be, remains elusive. For now, the way forward will be strategic continuity and incremental progress on WTO this end, members, particularly India, may need to relook long- held positions and pursue single-issue coalition and alliance-building towards preserving systemic interests. There's also a need for greater mobilisation among a range of both developed and developing country middle-powers, as well as LDCs, at WTO, to foster a pro-WTO narrative and cultivate an environment for undertaking meaningful developing countries like India need to rise to the occasion and actively pursue a coordinated agenda, much like it did in the successful Hong Kong ministerial conference in 2005. All these need to join forces and pursue an 'agenda of the willing' targeted to preserving and reforming Franklin's line, 'We must all hang together or we will all hang separately,' underscores the imminent need for an effective WTO, rather than a spaghetti bowl of FTAs, where smaller countries can be bullied by more powerful partners. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. Can victims of Jane Street scam be compensated by investor protection funds? Did the likes of TCS, Infosys, Wipro let India down in AI race? How India's oil arbitrage has hit the European sanctions wall Apple has a new Indian-American COO. What it needs might be a new CEO. Stock Radar: Tata Chemicals breaks out from 1-month consolidation; time to buy the dip? 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