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This chapter considers EC law relating to trade in fishery products between Member States, and the legal regime governing trade in fishery products between the EC and third States. The EC is a customs union. That means that not only are there in principle no barriers to trade between EC Member States but also that, as far as trade with Third States is concerned, the EC is to be considered as a single unit. It would seem to follow from the latter proposition that external trade relations, at least as far as trade in goods is concerned, ought to fall within the EC's exclusive competence (under the common commercial policy): that is implied in Article 133 EC, and has been confirmed to be so by the Court.

Chapter 4 discusses the basic organization and operation of the WTO, emphasizing the consensual nature of the rules it enforces and the activities it undertakes as part of its mandate. Essentially, the chapter highlights the way the WTO is structured and outlines its most important activities. It begins with some history and a summary of trade relations up to the founding of the WTO in 1995. The chapter also examines the important role of the WTO dispute settlement system and prospects for its reform. It also turns to the problem of extending WTO into nontrade areas, in light of the fundamental value proposition of the WTO to its members.

This chapter examines at the international reaction to the Smoot–Hawley tariff. The popular perception is that the tariff backfired by triggering retaliation against U.S. exports and the spread of trade blocs that discriminated against the United States, inflicting long-term damage for U.S. commercial and foreign policy interests. This perception is largely accurate. While countries did not broadcast that they were retaliating against the United States for imposing the tariff, the nature and timing of the measures they took strongly suggest that was the primary motivation. A month after the Smoot–Hawley tariff was imposed, a pro-American Liberal government in Canada lost a general election to the pro-British Conservatives, who erected trade barriers designed to shift Canada's imports from the United States to Britain. Other countries discriminated against U.S. exports as well, and the nation's share of world trade fell sharply.

This chapter employs a quantitative and qualitative analysis of Chinese television coverage of China–Europe relations to examine many of the outstanding issues of the moment. It notes that reports and comment on Europe and European relations occupy around 10 per cent of coverage on the main news programmes and that most views of Europe are positive, and this in turn may have some kind of impact on the policymaking process in China, though more research needs to be conducted. Overall, however, the chapter concludes that the Chinese understanding of Europe is quite limited, partial, and narrow. Their attention to Europe is confined to international affairs, economic achievements, and natural landscapes. They still consider Europe a remote landmass, with little relevance to their daily lives and personal interests apart from the impacts of Sino–European economic and trade relations.

This chapter tests the theoretical propositions about domestic politics developed in chapter 2. Using a new dataset, it aims to identify the domestic and international factors that affect a country's decision to join and ratify a preferential trading arrangement (PTA). It reviews whys democratic regimes are especially likely to enter PTAs and why a large number of veto players reduce the odds that a country will join such arrangements. Then, it tests these arguments after accounting for the effects of various other economic and international variables, including those that were of greatest importance in the systemic analysis conducted in chapter 3. The results provide strong support for these claims. Both regime type and veto players significantly influence whether and when states conclude trade agreements.

The chapter begins with a brief description of the recent evolution of preferential trading arrangements. In contrast to previous chapters, which focus on Asia or East Asia alone, this chapter considers trans-Pacific trade relations, not just those among countries on the Asian side of the Pacific but those on American shores as well. It also considers APEC, the only regional entity encompassing this entire region; its original aims; and its operation. It provides new evidence on its activities since 1993, drawing inferences from the content of leaders' declarations and project submissions. The chapter concludes with some general lessons and by suggesting some avenues for future research.

For the Six, Chapter 4 shows, the Spanish question boiled down to whether they would grant the preference rather than how. Documentary records and trade data show that the EEC did not discriminate against Spanish products. The EEC’s policy on Franco Spain was forged around the justification that relations with dictatorships of less-developed countries served to promote economic development and social change. These changes would naturally lead to a collective desire for political change. France and West Germany acted accordingly and exercised due influence on their peers. In the pursuit of their own interests, the European Community and its member-states opted to induce progressive reform towards West-European institutional standards over punishment or rupture. The political debate was limited to the speed of such changes, not to the validity of the assumption. The Europeanization/democratization binomial implied that closer relations with the EEC would promote convergence towards West-European standards, including democratization.

This chapter explores alternative trade from the vantage point of consumption and its meanings by focusing on an alternative currency system in Ithaca, New York. It asks whether Ithaca's alternative currency, called HOURS, would promote a different and perhaps more equitable and sustainable economic reality, and how. The chapter first considers the role of “conventional” modern money in the production and perpetuation of the current global model of trade relations before turning to the question of how the use of an alternative kind of money may shape alternative economic relations and notions of fairness in Ithaca. It shows that the vast majority of commodities and exchanges in Ithaca remain outside the sphere of circulation of the city's HOURS system, which makes the alternative trade network an imperfect substitute for the dollar economy. It argues that the limited circulation of HOURS, despite the system's nearly twenty years of existence, is a reflection of fair trade networks that benefit a privileged minority of commodity producers.

This chapter examines the repercussions of Bulgaria's trade relations with Nazi Germany for tobacco merchants. Bulgarian–German commercial partnership, in which the tobacco trade was central, provided one of the foundations for Bulgaria's entry into World War II on the Axis side. German trade with Bulgaria and other countries in Eastern Europe expanded rapidly in the course of the 1930s as a part of Nazi Gross-raumwirtshaft (greater German economic space). Even before Bulgaria became an Axis state, Jews were gradually shut out of the tobacco trade by Nazi dictate. This chapter considers how the Bulgarian state was compelled to marshal not only its troops but also its tobacco industry as part of its Axis war effort, as well as its impact on the country's Jewish tobacco merchants such as Jacques Asseof. It also discusses the Nazis' attempts to limit smoking in Bulgaria, the rise of anti-Semitism in the country, and the deportation of Bulgarian Jews to the provinces during the war.

This chapter discusses the trade and investment relations between South Africa and the African continent. It describes South Africa’s promotion of broader regional integration through ‘developmental regionalism’, which combines trade integration, cross-border infrastructure development, and policy coordination to build and diversify production, broaden regional and continental markets, and boost intra-African trade. The chapter concludes by setting out some challenges to South African economic diplomacy in Africa.

This chapter explores the question of Aksumite trade with Nubia during the period spanning the first and third centuries CE. It suggests that, despite the expansion of international trade during the Roman period, Aksum and Kush did not grow closer and instead had minimal contact. As far as long-distance trade is concerned, the economies of Kush and Aksum operated not very differently but independently of each other. The economy of Kush was intimately bound to the Nile Valley, the main route linking Nubia to Egypt. Aksum depended on agriculture in the Ethiopian Highlands, but its main outlet to the outside world was the Red Sea. This chapter also considers the extent to which Kush and Aksum maintained peaceful trade relations during the period.

This chapter illustrates how the Havana Consulado considered the years leading up to the turn of the century to be a time of disappointment. Not once in its campaign to eliminate North American influence and to wrest control of the commerce of Cuba away from its rivals did the Havana Consulado succeed in convincing Charles IV that it could offer a better solution to the problems of supply. After the defeats of 1796, in January 1797, it received more bad news when neutral commerce was reinstated. Trade relations with the United States were maintained until January 1802, when the concession was rescinded. The jubilation in the Consulado's meeting on January 31 was almost tangible. Those at the meeting applauded the king's resolution and congratulated His Majesty for recognizing the evil that would befall the commerce of Cuba if such permissiveness continued.

This chapter explores the role of human rights in EU trade policy. Ever since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009, the EU has made the promotion of human rights an integral part of its trade relations with third countries. It has done so by requiring all external trade, cooperation, partnership, and association agreements, including unilateral preference regimes, to incorporate a variety of human rights commitments. After briefly sketching the general nexus between human rights and trade, the chapter outlines the gradual integration of human rights priorities into EU trade policy. It then provides a critical analysis of the various ways in which these commitments and strategic priorities have been operationalised through unilateral preference regimes as well as through regional and bilateral trade agreements, and includes an early assessment of the Union's use of sustainability impact assessments for trade negotiations. Finally, the chapter offers some critical remarks on the EU's promotion of human rights in trade.

This chapter examines three areas of US–China economic relations: international trade in goods and services, foreign direct investment (FDI), and portfolio investment. These three relationships are understood in their institutional and regulatory environments. They also interact with one another: in some cases providing substitute means to achieve objectives; in other cases, one relationship works much better if features of another relationship are also working well, in which case they are complements. They are also affected by non-economic relations. Differences between the countries’ economic and political systems are a significant feature of the bilateral economic relationships and can be contentious.