Business and Management
You must answer all three questions. Provide evidence to support your positions in answer to the essay questions.
Questions 1 (40 points)
You are the Chief Executive Officer of International Trade Behemoth Corporation (ITBC), a company headquartered in the United States. ITBC is losing sales in the United States to imported widgets from Brazil, France, Germany, and Russia. In some cases, the imported widgets are priced below ITBC’s prices, and you also believe that French and German producers have received financial assistance from the European Union for environmental compliance and worker training.
In addition, ITBC is losing sales in Asia of specialty widgets that it produces using proprietary technology (i.e. technology for which ITBC holds a valid patent). ITBC believes that widget producers in India and China are manufacturing this specialty product, using the ITBC technology without a license, and selling this product to ITBC’s customers in Asia.
Discuss which U.S. trade relief laws might be available to ITBC in this situation. Include in your discussions:
• what ITBC would have to show to obtain trade relief;
• the U.S. government agencies that would be involved in these trade relief proceedings and their roles;
• a description of the nature of the relief that ITBC might obtain.
• a discussion of constituencies which might be involved in these issues and the roles that they might play.
Finally, can the ITBC pursue any remedies with WTO for these trade circumstances? If so, what might they be? And how would ITBC proceed?
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Questions 2 (40 points)
All trade policies have economic, social, and political benefits and costs associated with their implementation. Identify three ways in which trade policy can be pursued and discuss the economic, social, and political costs and benefits associated with each one (be as specific as possible). Some examples of trade policy pursuits include, but are not limited to:
• negotiating a bilateral free trade agreement,
• pursuing multilateral trade negotiations,
• seeking import relief through trade remedy statutes;
• implementing a trade embargo,
• implementing quality and technical standards on products,
• negotiating a preferential trade agreement,
• enforcing health and safety standards
In each scenario and where appropriate, analyse the impact of the trade policy from a WTO perspective.
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Question 3 (20 points)
Select five (5) terms from the following group and explain each term’s importance with respect to trade policy. Don’t simply define the term, but make sure to provide information on the significance of these terms to international trade policy.
a. Tariff bindings
b. trade adjustment assistance
c. trade diversion
d. single undertaking
e. rules of origin
f. “special and differential”