US business defends capital controls in trade pacts
Source: reuters.com
WASHINGTON Feb 8 (Reuters) – A coalition of leading business groups has urged the Obama administration to reject a call to give U.S. free trade partners more freedom to control the flow of capital in and out of their countries.
Loosening rules on capital controls in future free trade agreements and bilateral investment
El Salvador’s Gold Fight
Source: Foreign Policy In Focus
By Michael Busch
As El Salvador transitions from decades of conservative rule to the administration of leftist President Mauricio Funes, the country faces an international showdown triggered by a restrictive free-trade agreement between the United States and Central America. Canada’s Pacific Rim Mining Corporation is suing the government for its refusal to allow it to mine gold in El Salvador’s rural north.
Harper, EU leaders celebrate trade deal they haven’t sealed
Source: Cbc.ca
Negotiators finish 5 years of CETA talks, but uncertain ratification, political sales job lie ahead
ANALYSIS 5:00 AM ETJanyce McGregor, CBC News
Prime Minister Stephen Harper may be all smiles during his summit with European Union leaders in Ottawa Friday, as they celebrate the end of five years of tough trade negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
But Canadians
Capital Controls and the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
The first trade agreement to be negotiated by the Obama administration should allow governments to control volatile capital flows.
U.S. negotiators are hardliners against capital controls in current Trans-Pacific trade talks with eight other countries. Their position is more rigid than the International Monetary Fund and previous U.S. regimes, including the Reagan administration.
Philip Morris vs. Uruguay
Source: Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF)
Philip Morris International believes Uruguay is Marlboro Country. On February 19, the tobacco giant filed a lawsuit against that country, charging that new health measures involving cigarette packaging amount to unfair treatment of the company.
Uruguay’s new legislation, submitted in June 2009 and expected to go into effect in March 2010, requires that