bilaterals.org logo
bilaterals.org logo
  1. Negotiations

:: Across the board ::


This section contains news and analysis of sweeping developments that affect the overall push and pull towards FTAs and bilateral investment treaties. This means major trends relating to bilateralism, often with global consequences, and other cross-cutting issues. New developments arising from US politics, the WTO or South-South alliance-building, for instance, are often reported here as they tend to have systemic impacts.

last update: May 2012

US to get tough on trade, labor infractions: Kirk
16-Jul-2009     Reuters
The US government will get tough with governments that don't live up to trade deals, including those with substandard labor practices, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk was set to announce on Thursday.
Many US House Democrats want trade policy revamp
25-Jun-2009     Washington Post
Political pressure grew on President Barack Obama to reconsider pending trade deals with Panama, Colombia and South Korea as over 100 lawmakers called on Wednesday for a massive revamp of US trade policy.
106 members of Congress introduce TRADE Act, promote a better trade model
25-Jun-2009     Mike Michaud
Endorsed by more than a dozen fair trade groups, the TRADE Act would revamp US trade policy.
US trade freeze could be slowly thawing
21-Jun-2009     Reuters
After months of little US action on trade, there are signs the issue could become more important for President Barack Obama
US should consider trade pact with EU: manufacturers
13-Jun-2009     Political Blog
A proposed trade deal between Canada and the European Union puts pressure on the United States to begin thinking about its own trade pact with Europe, U.S. manufacturers said Tuesday.
United States reviews its model bilateral investment treaty
8-Jun-2009     ITN
The United States has embarked on a review of its model bilateral investment treaty (BIT). Last updated in 2004, the US closely adheres to the model in its BIT negotiations with other countries.
EU targets free trade deals under Swedish presidency
6-Jun-2009     Tax-News
The first trade priority for the upcoming Swedish presidency of the European Union is to close the free trade agreement with South Korea
US Trade Rep promises transparency... but actions speak louder than websites
5-Jun-2009     TechDirt
The US Trade Representative has finally finished the long overdue task of relaunching its website.
Trade diplomat taps his deal-making past
31-May-2009     NY Times
Ron Kirk, the new US Trade Representative, said that he did not have “deal fever,” indicating no rush to slam together new trade pacts even if the local politician in him hates for issues with solutions to drag on.
US eyes Asia trade vistas after Panama, Doha: Kirk
20-May-2009     Reuters
The Obama administration wants to explore new trade vistas in the Asia-Pacific region once it has dealt with challenges it inherited, including a deal with Panama and a global trade pact, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said on Monday.

Referenced sites

Third World Network

TWN's website is a good source of information and analysis about what's happening within the multilateral trade system (WTO, UNCTAD, G77, etc).

WorldTradeLaw.net

WorldTradeLaw.net offers a free library of current trade news and resources; a database of dispute settlement tables and statistics; and a user-friendly sear...