Free Trade

Page 1 of 3

Filter category

Feature post image

Dial CPTPP for Climate Change-Related Civil Society Involvement in China: The Experimental Potential of the CPTPP’s Environmental Submissions and Referral Procedure

November 24, 2023

In September 2021, China formally applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Signed and entered into force in 2018, the CPTPP is a recent addition to a line of free trade agreements (FTAs) that establish formal mechanisms for engaging civil society in environmental matters. The environmental submissions and referral procedure (SRP) under Article 20.9 of the CPTPP has thus far received limited attention in academic and non-academic discussions. China’s application remains pending as of this writing. Should it accede to the CPTPP, China would be subject to the SRP as a matter of FTA obligation. Focusing on the subject of climate change, I argue that the unique procedural design of the SRP holds experimental potential for engaging civil society in China in the policy sphere of climate change, where its access has historically been restricted. Why Climate Change-Related Civil Society Involvement Matters for China Across domestic and international planes, the space for civil society in China…

Read more

Towards a gender-sensitive EU external trade policy

November 9, 2023

Gender equality is one of the central priorities of the EU’s external policies and actions. According to the Gender Action Plan III, 85% of the EU’s external relations actions ought to contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment by 2025. This ambition aligns with the more recently formulated “Feministische Außenpolitik” of German…

Read more

Are we still friends? The U.S. and EU approach to ‘friend-shoring’ of supply chains

October 31, 2023

On August 28, 2023 the Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Wang Wentao and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo held talks in Beijing in light of a tense exchange of measures restricting bilateral trade. It is only a few weeks after the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) imposed…

Read more

Politicization of the 5G rollout: Litigation way for Huawei?

February 10, 2023

The Chinese government’s ambition to become the global leader in new technologies, manifested in state-led industrial policies such as Made in China 2025, has prompted a strong response. For example, the United States significantly tightened its export control regulations and expanded grounds for foreign direct investment screening. In turn,…

Read more

US – Origin Marking Requirement: Did the WTO Panel Get the Balance Right between Trade Security and National Security?

January 25, 2023

On 21 December 2022, the WTO Dispute Settlement Panel ruled against the United States (US) on the product labeling requirement for all goods from Hong Kong to be marked “China” as their country of origin. This requirement came from the executive order that then US President Donald Trump signed on 14 July…

Read more