• East Asian Economic Review
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.3-28
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• 2018

This article discusses the deadlock in the WTO on multilateral harmonization of nonpreferential rules of origin (RoO) and reviews some of the RoO included in recent preferential trade agreements. We argue that there is a trend towards adoption of similar approaches and that this suggests that cooperation to reduce the trade-impeding effects of differences in RoO across jurisdictions is more feasible than often is assumed by observers and policymakers. From a trade facilitation perspective such cooperation could be based on plurilateral initiatives under the umbrella of the WTO. These could include a focus on pursuit of greater convergence between preferential and nonpreferential RoO helping to achieve the long-standing goal of moving towards harmonization of rules of origin.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.337-348
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• 2020

Although the WTO has fulfilled several key tasks it was set up to do - providing periodic reviews of members' trade policies, resolving disputes, supporting negotiations - with the notable exceptions of the Trade Facilitation and Information Technology agreements, WTO members have not been able to negotiate new rules on "bread and butter" trade policies. The importance of doing so was illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic which saw widespread uncoordinated recourse to trade policy instruments. This paper highlights four reforms that would bolster the effectiveness of the WTO as a forum for trade cooperation: (1) improving collection and reporting of information on trade-related policies; (2) supporting analysis-informed deliberation to establish a common understanding of the need and scope for cooperation in specific policy areas; (3) putting in place a stronger multilateral governance framework for plurilateral cooperation between groups of WTO members; and (4) reestablishing an effective dispute settlement system.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.243-273
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• 2018

A consequence of global trade liberalization is that domestic regulatory policies have become a focal point for efforts to reduce the costs of engaging in cross-border production and exchange. This article discusses the general challenges of reducing trade frictions created by regulatory differences, focusing specifically on the role trade agreements might play in addressing regulatory spillovers. A case is made for a greater focus on plurilateral cooperation under the umbrella of the WTO.

• 무역학회지
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• 제46권4호
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• pp.39-60
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• 2021

Despite the fast growth and rising importance of digital trade, there still exists no multilateral agreement governing digital trade. Significant differences in policy directions regarding key digital trade issues among the U.S., EU and China are the main stumbling blocks for reaching agreement on the multilateral front. To overcome this deficiency in digital trade rules, there has been active movement among mainly countries in the Asia-Pacific region for rule-making on digital trade. Starting with the CPTPP chapter on E-Commerce in 2018, there has been a series of digital trade rules agreed in bilateral or plurilateral formats, such as the USMCA, USJDTA, DEPA, DEA and RCEP. Korea is currently only member of RCEP, which contains an e-commerce chapter with lower levels of commitment as compared to other digital trade agreements. This paper provides a broad analysis of the recently concluded digital trade agreements, comparing the different coverage of rules, levels of commitment, and rules templates. The analysis aims to provide implications for the desirable direction of rule-making on digital trade and Korea's digital trade strategy.

• 무역상무연구
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• 제19권
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• pp.7-31
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• 2003

The governments of almost countries have the rules and procedures that the purchasing entities have to follow, in order to ensure that the best value for money spent is obtained in procuring goods and services. However, there are often some of important problems in their rules relating to government procurement. Namely, almost countries have a variety of discriminatory regulations for foreign suppliers in the government procurement laws with the object of national security, economic welfare, and protection of domestic market from international competition. For this reason, several advanced countries had reached the Plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement during Tokyo Round(1973-1979) and Uruguay Round(1986-1994). However, the provisions of two agreements do not apply to all products made by the government but only to those made by purchasing entities specified by each member country in its list in the Appendix. Accordingly, the size of goods and services purchased from foreign suppliers were comparatively not large. As we know well, the United States have spent a large amount of money from federal and state government budget. But the portion of procurement from foreign suppliers is still small, compared with the portion of procurement from domestic suppliers. The main reason are that U.S. has applied for long time the so-called Buy American Act to government procurement positively and maintained many kinds of other domestic regulations which have discriminatory provisions for foreign goods and foreign suppliers. On the recognition of these points, this thesis deals with the Buy American Act and other U.S. domestic laws, regional and bilateral, and plurilateral agreements including WTO Agreement on Government Procurement. As a result, the author found that there are several concerns and problems in the U.S. regulations relating to government procurement. It include the provisions on priority procurement of U.S.-produced products, local contents requirements, set-aside procurement from small business, and exclusion of preferential procurement from the developing countries.