B. Trade Policy Institutions (WTO and Free Trade Agreements)

• Introduction to the WTO system (13:09)

  • Click on the link above to learn about the origins of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade as well as the World Trade Organization (WTO). Focus on the Uruguay Round results and the commitments/structure of the WTO.

• WTO Principles (8:48)

  • This video introduces the main activities of the WTO and the most important principles of this rules-based system of non-discriminatory international trade. Pay close attention to the discussion of "MFN" and "national treatment."

• WTO dispute settlement system and Doha Round (11:33)

  • One of the WTO's principle functions is as an independent arbiter of trade disputes. The video was created in 2013 so there is some older informatoin about the status of the Doha Round negotiations.

• Introduction to WTO-consistent import restrictions (11:39)

Overview of WTO rules for increasing tariffs (safeguards, antidumping, countervailing duties, Article XX general exceptions)

• Safeguard actions (17:14)

(Temporary) increase in MFN tariffs in the event of "serious injury" to a domestic industry.

Students should use standard tariff analysis to examine the economic consequences of a safeguard action.

• Antidumping (14:02)

Non-MFN increase in duties on foreign firms "dumping" and causing "material injury" to a domestic industry producing a "like product"

Antidumping duties are placed only a subset of imports. Students should use the following tools to understand the economic effects of dumping (which are repeat from Section A):

• • Differential Tariffs (9:06) (i.e. economic effects when only some countries see higher tariffs). This is a repeate f

  • Price Minimum for Imports (9:14) Antidumping duties sometimes replaced with an agreement for foreigners to sell at a minimum price. Useful to compare with the impact of a VER.
    

• Countervailing duty actions (14:07)

Non-MFN tariffs placed on imports subsidized by a foreign government that causes "material injury" to a domestic industry producing a "like product).

Please review the material on the effects of large country export subsidies in Section A.

The differential tariff video in the antidumping section is also useful.

• Background on preferential trade agreements (16:51)

• Economic analysis of free trade agreements (14:31)

• Traditional U.S. Approaches to Free Trade Agreements lays out the basic issues covered in a typical US free trade agreement.