Congressional Research Service Reports - 29 Matching Results
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- United States Trade and Trade Balance with Japan 1958-1993: A Brief Historical Overview
- The purpose of this brief report is to appraise Congress of some relevant perspectives concerning the experience of U.S.-Japan merchandise trade since 1968. For the first seven years of the period under review, more American goods were sold to Japan than imported from that nascent major Asian economy, which has been,however, trailing Canada by far as our second top trading partner. Somewhat normally acceptable trade deficits were registered between 1966 and 1979, after which the growth of trade imbalances became unprecedented.
- JETRO and International Trade Promotion by Japan
- JETRO, the Japan External Trade Organization, has played a key role in Japan's system for trade promotion. It is a public corporation, a quasi-governmental organization, operating under the general supervision of Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).
- Japan-U.S. Trade Negotiations Under the Framework: Status and Alternative Approaches
- It has been more than a year since the United States and Japan established their bilateral framework for trade negotiations and other economic relations. The framework set down rules and deadlines to address various economic issues, particularly market access in Japan for U.S. exports and the Japanese global trade surplus. The two sides have failed to reach agreements on any of the major issues. The United States is left with several policy options to resolve the breakdown in trade negotiations.
- Japan-U.S. Trade Negotiations: Will the Deadlock Be Broken?
- The United States and Japan have been deadlocked for over a year in an effort to reach agreements under the July 1993 Framework for a New Economic Relationship. The overriding obstacle has concerned the issue of how to measure progress under future agreements to open Japan's market further to foreign goods and services.
- Trade and Environment: GATT and NAFTA
- Environmental concerns in trade negotiations have received extensive attention by policymakers both with regard to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
- Most-Favored-Nation Status Policy of the United States
- While the United States accords most-favored-nation (nondiscriminatory) treatment to many foreign countries on the basis of bilateral trade treaties or agreements, and to many more by virtue of being a signatory of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, MFN treatment is applied mostly as a matter of statutory policy generally to all trading partners except those whose MFN status has been suspended by specific legislation. Virtually all suspensions have been carried out under the mandate of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1951.
- Japan-U.S. Automotive Framework Talks
- The U.S.-Japan framework talks were initiated in July 1993. The automotive negotiations between Japan and the United States focused on sales of U.S. vehicles in Japan; sales of U.S.-made original equipment parts in Japan and to Japanese transplants in the United States; and deregulation of the market for replacement parts in Japan. An unresolved dispute over shock absorbers and other replacement parts resulted in the United States launching a formal investigation of Japanese market barriers to imported car parts under Section 301 on Oct. 1, 1994.
- Does Trade Reduce Wages of U.S. Workers?
- This report examines in some detail the hypothesis that trade is undermining the economic status of the American worker. Two questions are addressed: one, Has trade tended to reduce the average level of wages? and, two, Has trade increased the inequality of wages? The general conclusion reached is that poor wage performance is largely a problem of the domestic economy, that would have occurred with or without trade.
- Competitiveness: Economic Issue or Illusion?
- While "competitiveness" has a clear meaning when applied to a baseball team, or a firm or industry, it is of limited usefulness when applied to a country's overall economic performance. Moreover, focussing on competitiveness can lead to questionable economic policies.
- Trade and Environment: Treatment in Recent Agreements--GATT and NAFTA
- This report reviews some of the concerns surrounding the environment work program and other environmental issues. It briefly describes work underway in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and current thinking underlying development of U.S. positions on trade and the environment in the GATT.
- U.S.-Japan Trade Confrontation: Economic Perspective and Policy
- The United States and Japan are at odds over economic policy, particularly trade policy. There is a wide perception in the United States that Japanese trade restrictions contribute to the U.S. trade deficit and cost the United States high-wage jobs.
- Does Trade Reduce Wages of U .S . Workers?
- This report examines in some detail the hypothesis that trade is undermining the economic status of the American worker.
- Japan's Keiretsu: Industrial Groups as Trade Barriers
- A prominent feature of Japan's capitalism consists of families of companies called keiretsu that are linked by crossholdings of stock shares, intra-group financing, and certain coordinating mechanisms. Two types of keiretsu exist: large horizontally organized industrial conglomerates, such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Sumitomo, and vertically integrated manufacturers, such as Toyota, Nippon Steel, and Matsushita Electric. They have become a contentious issue in U.S. trade negotiations with Japan for several reasons.
- China-U.S. Trade Issues
- The growing U.S. trade imbalance with China, and alleged Chinese unfair trade practices, have become of major concern to many U.S. policymakers. Over the past few years, the U.S. trade deficit with China has grown at a faster rate than that of any other major U.S. trading partner. In 1993, the U.S. trade deficit with China totalled $22.8 billion, the second largest U.S. bilateral trade imbalance after Japan. Many trade analysts have attributed the growing U.S.-China trade deficit to a variety of Chinese restrictive trade practices. Other areas of concern to the United States have included China's alleged violation of U.S. intellectual property rights, transshipments of textiles to the United States in violation of U.S. textile quotas, and China's alleged use of forced labor for products exported to the United States.
- Fair Trade in Financial Services : Legislation and the GATT
- No Description Available.
- A Reappraisal of Foreign Investment Policy
- The rise of the multinational corporation and the increased flow of capital across national borders have raised anew the question of how to treat foreign direct investment, both inward and outward. The U.S. government and, increasingly, other governments advocate that, with some exceptions, economic policies should be neutral in the treatment of investment, foreign and domestic, inward and outward. This report discusses the changing view of foreign investment, both nationally and internationally.
- Intellectual Property Provisions of the GATT 1994: "The TRIPS Agreement"
- This report analyzes the intellectual property (IP) provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 -- the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, known as the "TRIPS Agreement."
- A "Managed Trade" Policy Toward Japan?
- This report examines: (1) the definition(s) of managed trade, (2) the underlying economic arguments for and against such policies, (3) past U.S. experiences with managed trade, (4) perceptions that Japan is somehow "different" from other trading nations and warrants a distinctive approach to resolving trade disputes, (5) the implications of the Administration's current results oriented approach to U.S.-Japan trade issues, and (6) alternative proposals offered in Congress to resolve trade disputes with Japan.
- World Trade Organization: Institutional Issues and Dispute Settlement
- Among the results of the Uruguay Round (UR) of Multilateral Trade Negotiations conducted under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) are institutions to administer the trade obligations contained in the UR agreements and to provide venues for further negotiation and discussion of these and possibly future trade agreements. The two primary institutional instruments are the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the dispute settlement procedures set forth in the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU).
- Granting Most-Favored-Nation Status to China as a Market Economy Country
- It has been suggested recently that most-favored-nation (MFN) status be extended to China permanently by determining that it is no longer a nonmarket economy (NME) country and thus removing China from the purview of the freedom-of-emigration waiver of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, required for the annual renewal of the MFN status of NME countries.
- China's MFN Status: Implications of the 1994 Decision
- On May 26, 1994, President Clinton announced he was recommending that MFN status be extended to China for another year despite Beijing's failure to meet the human rights conditions set forward in his Executive Order of the previous year (Executive Order 12850). In addition, the President announced he was taking additional steps with respect to China, including: maintaining U.S. sanctions imposed as a result of the events in Tiananmen
- Dispute Settlement Under the WTO and Trade Problems with Japan
- Under the World Trade Organization (WTO), the United States may use the dispute settlement mechanism to resolve certain trade problems with Japan. As compared with the mechanism under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the WTO offers expanded coverage and nearly automatic approval for panel requests and reports.
- Dispute Settlement Under the WTO and Trade Problems with Japan
- Under the World Trade Organization (WTO), the United States may use the dispute settlement mechanism to resolve certain trade problems with Japan. As compared with the mechanism under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the WTO offers expanded coverage and nearly automatic approval for panel requests and reports.
- Alternative Sources of Wood for Japan
- Japan is one of the world's largest wood importers, with two-thirds of its imports as logs (unprocessed timber). Southeast Asia has been the largest log supplier, but supplies (and exports to Japan) have been declining. The United States has become a more important supplier, but concerns about declining domestic timber supplies have led to proposals to prohibit or to tax log exports. Opponents suggest that Japan would simply turn to other sources to replace U.S. logs. One question in this debate is where the alternative sources of logs or wood products might be.
- The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species: Its Past and Future
- This report discusses the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It is divided into six sections: Introduction, Background, CITES and the Endangered Species Act, Implementation, Upcoming Events, and Appendices.
- Mahoganies: International Protection?
- This report is on The issue for 18 mahogany species is whether any qualifies for regulation under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). (1) Pessimists on this issue say "yes," while optimists see the abundance of species in parts of their range and therefore say "no." Both camps question the accuracy of data supplied by the other side. Both agree that the presence of mahogany trees may provide local governments with an incentive to retain rain forests, especially since mahogany cultivation has not been particularly successful.
- China: Current U.S. Sanctions
- In the months following China,s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, both the President and the Congress took a number of initiatives protesting Beijing's actions. These initiatives centered around U.S. concerns related to trade, human rights, and non-proliferation. In intervening years, the United States has periodically imposed, lifted, or waived other sanctions and concluded several trade- related agreements with China relating to these concerns. Those measures that remain in place in 1994 are detailed in the accompanying tables.
- Current U.S. Sanctions Against China
- In the months following China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, both the President and the Congress took a number of initiatives protesting Beijing's actions. These initiatives centered around U.S. concerns related to trade, human rights, and non-proliferation. In intervening years, the United States has periodically imposed, lifted, or waived other sanctions and concluded several trade-related agreements with China relating to these concerns. Those measures that remain in place in 1994 are detailed in the accompanying tables.
- China's Most-Favored-Nation Status: U.S. Wheat Exports
- By June 3, 1994, President Clinton must determine whether or not to recommend to Congress a one-year extension of his Jackson-Vanik waiver authority, in effect extending most-favored-nation (MFN)[1] trading status to China for anothe year. The media are reporting that the President has not yet decided whether he will ask for an extension, and that he may also be deliberating over whether or not to attach conditions to a recommendation for approval.