News from the Institute for International Trade

Search news stories

Enter a keyword to search news.

Industrial subsidies, state-owned enterprises and market distortions: Problems, proposals and a path forward

PBO5 Industrial Subsidies

Weinian Hu - Research Fellow at Centre for European Policy Studies, Belgium.
Industrial subsidisation is an area identified for WTO rule-strengthening by the European Union (EU) and the Trilateral Trade Ministerial Cooperation (hereafter Trilateral Cooperation). The aim is to curb certain trade practices spearheaded by China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs), which allegedly engender over-capacity, distort markets and undermine the effectiveness of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM). The obligations of transparency and notification prescribed by the ASCM require strengthening, too.

[Read more about Industrial subsidies, state-owned enterprises and market distortions: Problems, proposals and a path forward]

Failure of strategic trade diplomacy

Failure of strategic trade diplomacy

Naoise McDonagh - Lecturer, Institute for International Trade, University of Adelaide
In June 2019 a free trade agreement (FTA) two decades in the making was struck between the EU and the South American customs union Mercosur (currently comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay). 

[Read more about Failure of strategic trade diplomacy]

Study tour - strategy of Australia & EU Integration III

OECD - Paris

A group of University of Adelaide students are currently on a two-week study tour as part of their course on Australia-EU relations, being led by Prof Richard Pomfret.

[Read more about Study tour - strategy of Australia & EU Integration III]

China’s Perspectives on WTO Reform

China WTO

Professor Xiankun LU - China Institute for WTO Studies, University of International Business and Economics
China has tabled two formal documents on World Trade Organization (WTO) reform, these being the Position Paper on WTO Reform of November 2018 and the Proposal of China on WTO Reform of May 2019. Four aspects are highlighted in this article.

[Read more about China’s Perspectives on WTO Reform]

EU - Looking for the Origins

RPomfret EU Canberra

On 19 November Richard Pomfret participated in the event Looking for the Origins at the Italian Ambassador’s Residence in Canberra.  In conjunction with the geographical indications topic in the currently under negotiation Australia-EU trade agreement, the event featured participants from the scientific, police enforcement and diplomatic communities.

[Read more about EU - Looking for the Origins ]

Fellow of the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE)

Richard Pomfret has been appointed an external Fellow of the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE) in Warsaw for 2019-21 
CASE has been ranked the number one think tank in Central and Eastern Europe, according to the Global Think Tank Report of the University of Pennsylvania   (April 2019, p. 94).

[Read more about Fellow of the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE)]

What future for the global trading system amid trade, technological and geopolitical confrontations?

PB AGonzalez

By Anabel Gonzalez - Independent consultant on Trade and Investment. 
With trade conflicts, new technologies and geopolitical competition reshaping the global economy, the trade and investment policy landscape is rapidly changing. While different scenarios are playing out, managed trade is gaining traction, rules are increasingly fragmented in competing spheres of influence and global trade governance is weakening. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is under strain and the business environment is more uncertain, volatile and increasingly power-driven than before. 

[Read more about What future for the global trading system amid trade, technological and geopolitical confrontations?]

World In a Box - 50 years of containerization in Australia

World In a Box Video Launch 1

On 22 October IIT staff and students participated in the launch of World in a Box by Minister for Trade Tourism and Investment, Senator The Hon Simon Birmingham at the University of Adelaide. 

[Read more about World In a Box - 50 years of containerization in Australia ]

Launch - World in a Box -Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

World In a Box Video Launch 2

On 22 October IIT staff and students and Centre of Excellence Director Richard Pomfret participated in the launch of World in a Box by by Minister for Trade Tourism and Investment, Senator The Hon Simon Birmingham at the University of Adelaide.  The short film commissioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first international container ship in Australian ports.  The Minister was welcomed by Executive Dean of the Faculty of Professions, Professor John Williams.  The audience contained DFAT officials and representatives from Australian ports and exporters as well as from Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping line.

[Read more about Launch - World in a Box -Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade]

Trade & Investment in Services Associates (TIISA)

Trade & Investment in Services Associates (TIISA) held its first annual conference at the World Trade Institute at the University of Bern in Switzerland on 20-21 September 2019. Researchers from six of the partner institutions  presented papers around the theme Trade in Services by Mode of Supply. The conference also included papers from staff of the WTO, the OECD and the US Federal Reserve highlighting major new advances in data on services trade as well as services research from those institutions.

[Read more about Trade & Investment in Services Associates (TIISA) ]

RSS News Feed

IIT is a global leader in researching, analysing and commenting on International Trade.

Stay informed about our up-and-coming seminars, events, publications, awards, new projects and collaborations, and other exciting news.

Subscribe to IIT news