News: Opinions
Markets are moral by default – what about governments?
Andreas Freytag, Professor and Chair of Economic Policy, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, and Visiting Professor with IIT
The German law on corporate due diligence in supply chains, also known as the Sustainable Supply Chain Law, has now been in force for four months. Similar laws in other countries have a longer history. Overall, efforts by Western lawmakers to regulate domestic companies and encourage, if not require, compliance with human rights, labour, and environmental standards along their entire value chain are picking up steam.
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What to expect from June’s China-Africa Economic and Trade Exhibition
Dr. Lauren Johnston is a Visiting Senior Lecturer, Institute for International Trade, Adelaide University and Associate Professor, China Studies Centre, University of Sydney. As Australia’s trade relations with China are being reset, both countries are simultaneously pursuing diversification opportunities. For China, Africa is an important source of minerals and agricultural commodities that could rival Australia. In this article Lauren Johnson reports on an important forthcoming event that aims to take China-Africa trade relations to the next level.
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Reforming EU Rules of Origin Applied to Trade Agreements with Africa
Mike Humphrey, Senior Trade Consultant. Currently there are multiple sets of Rules of Origin (RoO) that apply to the EU’s different trade agreements it has with various groups of African countries. In this Op Ed I will make the case for replacing these with a single set of RoO that apply to all these different trade agreements, making cumulation possible with any African country for all African exporters to the EU.
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Reviving the EUs Free Trade commitments - let’s start with Australia!
Catharina Rinzema, Member of European Parliament (Renew Europe, The Netherlands), Morten Lokkegaard, Member of European Parliament (Renew Europe, Denmark), Professor Peter Draper, Executive Director of the Institute for International Trade.
The European Parliament this month sent a delegation to Australia to strengthen our ties with strategic Indo-Pacific partners. This op-ed argues that these democratic allies and trade partners have a good opportunity to promote common values and rule-of-law trade through the under-negotiation EU-Australia free trade agreement.
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China’s Western Neighbours, and the Future of Eurasian Overland Trade
Richard Pomfret, Emeritus Professor of Economics, the University of Adelaide.
China’s flagship foreign policy, the Silk Road Economic Belt, was announced in 2013 in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, and became part of the Belt and Road Initiative that was launched in May 2017. Rail connections west through Kazakhstan were the key part of the overland “Belt”. President Xi has recently and publically confirmed the importance of this relationship, an act which has import in the context of the current Ukraine-Russia war, as argued in this op-ed
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Australia and the European Union’s shared Indo-Pacific Future
Professor Peter Draper Executive Director, Institute for International Trade
Naoise McDonagh, Lecturer & Policy & Engagement Managing Editor
After recently holding hearings on the EU’s Indo-Pacific trade strategy, the EU Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) is visiting Australia this week. The EU Parliament has equal decision-making status on trade issues with the Council and Commission, so the significance of the visit for EU-Australia trade relations should not be underestimated.
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Green hydrogen offers a window to redefine the Africa-Australia and Africa-Australia-Europe partnerships
Conflict in Europe has fast-forwarded a global race for green hydrogen. Australia was already well-placed, having already begun pursuit of large-scale green hydrogen development projects domestically and overseas. With a focus on Africa this op-ed explores Australia’s international hydrogen-related green energy superpower potential.
Chigozie Nweke-Eze, University of Bonn. Dr. Lauren A. Johnston, Visiting Senior Lecturer University of Adelaide.
New Trade and Aid Paradigm Needed for China and Pacific Relations
Jim Redden, Trade and Development Expert, Institute for International Trade, University of Adelaide.
Australia’s regional economic diplomacy has lost its way in recent times in the Indo-Pacific region. The new Albanese-led Labor government recognizes that there needs to be a reset in its trade and aid paradigm in the Indo-Pacific, in order to restore strong relations with our Pacific neighbours, as well as thaw the diplomatic freeze with China on trade. This op-ed identifies four components that could serve as the foundation for this new paradigm.
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The G7-Summit delivered more than expected
Andreas Freytag, Professor and Chair of Economic Policy, Friedrich Schiller University and Peter Draper, Executive Director of the Institute for International Trade. Over 3 days at this year's G7 summit under the German presidency the heads of government of the United States (USA), Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada - met in a castle tucked away in the Bavarian Alps. They were joined by the President of the European Commission and, as guests, the heads of government of India, South Africa, Indonesia, Argentina and Senegal. President Zelensky was also present as a virtual guest. Their aim was to constructively address the major challenges facing the world today, not least the war in Ukraine.
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Services: The DNA of e-commerce
Lee Tuthill visiting Fellow, The University of Adelaide, Institute for International Trade. Lee worked at the WTO from 1990 to 2021, where she specialized in GATS, telecommunications/ICT, emerging technologies and digital trade. Just as DNA is the key that unlocks the development and functioning of an organism, a whole host of services contribute to the development of e-commerce and how it functions as an ecosystem.
The views expressed here are the author’s, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Institute for International Trade.
This work is licensed under Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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