The definitive source for American Trade Policy information. American Trade Policy addresses American trade policy, U.S. imports, U.S. exports, international trade regulation, World Trade Organization, WTO, Unfair foreign competition, Antidumping Law, Countervailing Duty Law, Trade Sanctions, global trade law, global trade, international trade, international trade law, trade law, trade regulation, and GATT.
The definitive source for American Trade Policy information. American Trade Policy addresses American trade policy, U.S. imports, U.S. exports, international trade regulation, World Trade Organization, WTO, Unfair foreign competition, Antidumping Law, Countervailing Duty Law, Trade Sanctions, global trade law, global trade, international trade, trade law, international trade law, trade regulation, and GATT.

Dr. Bart S. Fisher ~ Tel:  202.659.2979 ~ Fax:  202.558.5101 ~ E-Mail:  bart_fisher2002@yahoo.com
 

American Trade Policy

Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

Spring Term, Academic Year 2007/2008

Dr. Bart S. Fisher
Tel: 202 659 2979
Fax: 202 558 5101
E-Mail: bart_fisher2002@yahoo.com

Links | Course Outline | Regulatory Framework Assignment | Possible Paper Topics
Required and Recommended Reading | Class Materials
Supplementary Online Resources

Links

 

American trade Policy Course Outline

The purpose of the course is to explore the challenges confronting American trade policy.

The methodology will be inter-disciplinary, including political, economic, and legal analysis.

The basic textbook will be Bart S. Fisher and Michael P. Malloy, International Trade and Investment. The textbook, which is being prepared for publication by Kluwer, will be provided to students in the class with a materials charge of $20 per student. Students are also required to purchase The United States and the World Economy, by C. Fred Bergsten and the Institute for International Economics, 2005.

The documents supplement for the course is Raj Bhala, International Trade Law Handbook, Second Edition, Lexis Publishing, 2001, and is available at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Bookstore for $45.

Additional readings for the course are described below.

The student agency report and some possible paper topics are also suggested below.

This is a one-semester course, with one grade given at the end of the semester. The grade will consist of two elements, each equally weighted.

  1. Final Examination. There will be a 4-hour open book final examination at the end of the course.

  2. Class Participation. Attendance, punctuality, and the degree of informed class participation are included. This part of the grade will include preparation of an agency report and a paper for the course. Please give notice if you will be unable to attend a particular class session.

REGULATORY FRAMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

This assignment is designed to provide a practical roadmap to the agencies that regulate international trade in goods, services and capital.

Each report should describe the regulatory functions and roles played by the assigned department, agency, or institution. This description should fall into two parts—the assigned role designated by statute, or charter, and the powers actually exercised by the office/agency in practice. Emphasis should be given to changes in role or policy in recent years, or over time.

Each person shall deliver an oral report to the class of no longer than 20 minutes on the agency assigned. In addition, an outline of the report (no longer than 2 pages) should be prepared for distribution to the class. Both time and page length requirements will be strictly enforced, to encourage students to present their ideas in a succinct manner.

  1. National Security Council

  2. Office of the United States Trade Representative

  3. Department of Agriculture

  4. Department of Commerce

  5. Department of State

  6. Department of Homeland Security

  7. International Trade Commission

  8. Department of the Treasury

  9. Overseas Private Investment Corporation

  10. Export Import Bank of the United States

  11. International Finance Corporation

  12. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

  13. Inter-American Development Bank

  14. International Monetary Fund

  15. World Trade Organization (WTO)

  16. Court of International Trade

  17. European Union (EU) Commission

  18. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

  19. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

  20. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

  21. House Ways and Means Committee

  22. Senate Finance Committee

international trade law, trade law and american trade policy

POSSIBLE PAPER TOPICS

  1. Alleged currency manipulation by the People’s Republic of China (PRC); are new international trade rules needed to regulate currency levels?

  2. Should the United States permit purchases of its companies such as Unocal and Maytag by PRC entities: activities of CIFIUS and regulation of foreign investment in the United States

  3. The role of electronic commerce in international trade

  4. The Airbus dispute with the European Union: the issue of subsidies in international trade

  5. The relationship between international trade and peaceful relationships

  6. The role of states (e.g., California or Virginia) in promoting international trade, investment, and local economic development

  7. Countering OPEC: what is to be done?

  8. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)

  9. Basel Convention on Trans-Border Transportation of Hazardous Wastes

  10. The relationship between the U.S. budget deficit and the U.S. trade deficit

  11. How should the United States tax multinational enterprises?

  12. Status of the agricultural sector of the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations

  13. Prospects for CAFTA

  14. Is NAFTA working?

  15. The technology factor in international commerce: is the United States losing its scientific and technological edge in areas such as biotechnology and nanotechnology?

  16. Implications of the end of textile quotas under the MFA

  17. Outsourcing: implications for U.S. employment

  18. What should be the U.S. policy on immigration?

  19. The case of Yahoo in China: privacy concerns, human rights, and the possible extraterritorial application and effect of U.S. laws

  20. The global quest for energy supplies: the case of China and Japan contesting the East China Sea for exploration purposes

  21. Should China be considered as a market economy for purposes of the Antidumping Law of the United States?

  22. The Byrd Amendment

  23. Accession of Russia to the World Trade Organization

  24. Free trade in the Middle East

  25. U.S.-Japan dispute over beef imports and standards

  26. Role of Wal Mart in international trade

  27. U.S. policy towards international commodity agreements

  28. WTO Dispute Resolution: is it working? For whom?

  29. Transnational Corporate Figures: The Case of Rupert Murdoch

  30. Surfing the Internet: The Development of International Electronic Commerce and its International Regulatory Aspects

  31. Relationship between use of grains as food and/or fuel.

REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDED READING

Asterisk (*) denotes required reading for the course. Other materials are recommended readings but not required reading for the course.

First Class

Introduction: The Context of International Trade Policy

  • *Fisher and Malloy, Chapter I

  • *Bergsten, C. Fred, The United States and the World Economy, Chapter 1. Institute for International Economics, 2005.

  • Pearson, Charles, United States Trade Policy: A Work in Progress, Chapter 1., “An Overview”

  • Prestowitz, Clyde, Three Billion New Capitalists: The Great Shift of Wealth and Power to the the East, Basic Books, 2005

  • Yergin, Daniel, The Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy, Touchstone, 1998.

  • Bhagwati, Jagdish, In Defense of Globalization, Oxford University Press, 2004.

Second Class

The Institutional Framework for American Trade Policy

  • *Fisher and Malloy, Chapter III, “Regulation of International Trade: The Institutions”

  • Destler, I.M,, American Trade Politics, 4th Edition, Institute for International Economics, 2005, Chapters 1 through 5.

Third Class

The Competitiveness Challenge: Trade in Fairly Priced Goods Herein of the cases of automobiles and textiles

  • *Fisher and Malloy, Chapter IV, “Relief from Fairly Priced Foreign Competition”

  • *Gilboy, George, “The Myth Behind China’s Miracle,” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2004
    Pearson, Charles, Chapter 3, “Flirting with Managed Trade”

  • *Lardy, Nicholas, Integrating China into the Global Economy, Brookings, 2002 (1604 .L275 2002)

  • Lardy, Nicholas, China’s Unfinished Economic Revolution, Brookings, 1998.

  • Lardy, Nicholas, “China: The Great New Economic Challenge?” Chapter 4 in Bergsten, C. Fred, The United States and the World Economy.

  • Navarro, Peter, The Coming China Wars: Where They Will Be Fought and How They Will Be Won, Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2006.

  • *Navarro, Peter, China Price Project - click here.

  • Fishman, Ted C., China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower

  • *Hufbauer, Gary C., Wong, Y., and Sheth, K., U.S.-China Trade Disputes: Rising Tide, Rising Stakes, Institute for International Economics, 2006.

  •  Challenges America and the World, Scribner, 2005.

  • Groombridge, Mark A., and Barfield, Claude E., Tiger by the Tail: China and the World Trade Organization, The AEI Press, 1999.

  • *Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, Bhala, pp. 1304-1325.

  • Rogers, Jim, A Bull in China: Investing Profitably in the World's Greatest Market. Random House, 2007.

  • Zeng, Ming and Williamson, Peter J., Dragons at Your Door: How Chinese Cost Innovation Is Disrupting Global Competition. Harvard Business School, 2007.

Fourth Class

The Competitiveness Challenge: Trade in Services and the Debate Over Outsourcing and Offshoring

  • *Friedman, Thomas L., The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005

  • *Mann, Catherine L., “Offshore Outsourcing and the Globalization of US Services: Why Now, How Important, and What Policy Implications,” Chapter 9 in Bergsten, C. Fred, The United States and the World Economy.

  • Raj, Vinay. Think India: The Rise of the World's Next Superpower and What It Means for Every American. Dutton, 2007.

Fifth Class

The Challenge of Competing Against Unfairly Priced Goods
Herein of the case of steel

  • *Fisher and Malloy, Chapter V, Antidumping Duties

  • Destler, Chapter 6, “Changing the Rules: The Rise of Administrative Trade Remedies”

  • *Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (“Antidumping” Agreement, Bhala, pp. 392-419.

  • Irwin, Douglas, Free Trade Under Fire, Princeton University Presss, 2005.

  • B. Bhattarcharyya, The Indian Shrimp Industry Organizes to Fight the Threat of Anti-Dumping Duties, - click here.

Sixth Class

The Challenge of Subsidies in International Trade
Herein of the cases of agriculture (U.S. and Europe) and currency manipulation (China)

  • *Fisher and Malloy, Chapter VI, Subsidies and Countervailing Duties

  • Daniel Griswold, Grain Drain, The Hidden Cost of U.S. Rice Subsidies, Cato Institute, November 16, 2006 - click here.

  • WTO Decision on United States Subsidies on Upland Cotton, Report of the Appellate Body, WT DS 267/AB/R, March 3, 2005

  • Robert Samuelson, "The Airbus Showdown," December 8, 2004 - click here.

  • Irwin, Douglas A., and Nina Pavcnik (2004). "Airbus versus Boeing Revisited: International Competition in the Aircraft Market." Journal of International Economics 64 (2): 223-245. - click here.

  • *Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (“SCM Agreement”), Bhala, pp. 473-521.

Seventh Class

The Energy Challenge
OPEC: What Response
Alternative Fuels: what are the prospects

  • *Philip K. Verleger, Jr., “Energy: A Gathering Storm?” Chapter 7 in Bergsten, Fred C., The United States and the World Economy

Eighth Class

The Development Challenge: International Trade and the War on Terror
Relationship between trade and international violence

  • *Fisher and Malloy, Chapter X, Trade and Developing Nations

  • *Pearson, Charles, United States Trade Policy: A Work in Progrress, Chapter 6, “The Allure of Preferential Trade”

Ninth Class

The Challenge of Multilateral Trade Negotiations: Will the Doha Round Succeed?

  • Malawer, Stuart, WTO Law, Litigation & Policy - Sourcebook of Internet Documents. Wm. S. Hein & Co.,, 2007.

Tenth Class

The Challenge of Regional Economic Integration

  • NAFTA

  • CAFTA

  • Bilateral free trade agreements

Eleventh Class

The Challenge to American Intellectual Property in the World Marketplace

  • *Fisher and Malloy, Chapter XIII, The Territorial Structure of Intellectual Property Rights

  • *Fisher and Malloy, Chapter XIV, The International Licensing of Technology and Associated Antitrust Issues

  • *Agreeement on Trade Related Intellectual Property, WTO, 1994, Bhala, pp. 567-602

Twelfth Class

Trade Sanctions and Export Controls

  • *Fisher and Malloy, Chapter XII, The Use of Trade Controls for Political Purposes

Thirteenth Class

The International Financial Architecture

  • *Morris Goldstein, “The International Financial Architecture,” Chapter 12 in Bergsten, C. Fred, The United States and the World Economy

  • *Stiglitz, Joseph, Globalization and Its Discontents, 2002.

  • Bergsten, C. Fred and Williamson, John, eds., Dollar Overvaluation and the World Economy, Institute for International Economics, 2003.

Class Materials

Part 1 - Regulation of International Trade

Part 2 - Technology in International Commerce

Part 3 - Regulating International Investment

Supplementary Online Resources
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Copyright 2005-2008 Dr. Bart S. Fisher

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