Philippe Legrain

Eight years after China’s WTO accession, many US industries complain that they face significant non-tariff barriers to trade… These barriers include, for example, regulations that set high thresholds for entry into service sectors such as banking, insurance and telecommunications . . . and the use of questionable sanitary and phytosanitary measures to control import volumes. Sounds a lot like […]

Ha-Joon Chang's suggestion that the world needs a dose of protectionism to tide it through the global recession is utterly misguided. Read my new article for Prospect here.

Prospect, April 2009. Ha-Joon Chang’s suggestion that the world needs a dose of protectionism is utterly misguided

After the Omnibus Appropriations Bill signed into law by President Obama scrapped a pilot programme that allowed a small number of Mexican trucking companies to carry cargoes north of the border – as NAFTA requires – Mexico has responded by slapping tariffs of up to 45% on 90 American agricultural and industrial imports. Renault is […]

The FT reports. Let’s hope the financial crisis doesn’t spur a wider outbreak of protectionism

Gordon Brown’s reshuffle has certainly captured headlines. But what does it mean for the trade and immigration debates? That Peter Mandelson jumped at the chance to leave his job as EU trade commissioner for a non-job as UK business secretary (which has been stripped of the energy and enterprise portfolios) provides further confirmation that the […]

Philip Stephens has written an excellent article in the FT about why the Doha breakdown matters. He concludes: The collapse of Doha, however, speaks to the failure of both sides to own up to the world as it is. On the side of the rich countries, particularly the US but no less many European nations, […]

The WTO’s Doha round has collapsed yet again. Like a beaten up boxer, don’t expect it to be back on its feet any time soon.

Washington Post, 6 April 2008. Like it or hate it, NAFTA is not a big deal for the US economy – and renegotiating should not be a priority for the new president

Read my article in the Washington Post here.

World trade talks collapse in acrimony, says the FT. Global trade talks founder, says the WSJ. Latest world trade talks collapse, says the BBC.

The US’s most significant "free-trade agreement" since NAFTA, the first with an Asian country, with "state-of-the-art" chapters and "unique" provisions – the embattled Bush administration was wheeling out the superlatives to describe the bilateral trade deal clinched with South Korea this morning.

I debated the charge that such "sweatshops" are harming
Bangladeshi workers in a debate with John Hilary of War on Want on BBC
Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show: Listen here

Anti-dumping duties, which unfairly penalise imports that are deemed too cheap, are one of the most pernicious protectionist devices. After all, we ought to be cheering if the cost of imports falls, because it makes the money in our pocket stretch further, not taxing consumers in order to try to prop up less efficient domestic […]

The Center for International Relations has organised an International Affairs Forum on the future of world trade. They ask: In the wake of the failure of the Doha round, what does the future hold for world trade? What can, and should be done to get negotiations back on track? My reply follows. To read the […]

Most people think Europe’s single market already exists: it was created way back in 1992, wasn’t it? Unfortunately not. While goods are traded freely across borders within Europe, services are not  – and since they account for over two-thirds of the EU economy, Europe’s single market is in effect far from complete.

India’s drinkers should raise a glass to Peter Mandelson.

No sooner had Vietnam celebrated its success in becoming the WTO’s 150th member than it suffered a setback in its trade relations with Washington: Congress voted against normalising trade relations between the two countries.

Here we go again. The US government has today launched yet another salvo in its long-running conflict with the EU over aircraft subsidies, announcing that it is to file a new complaint at the WTO against European subsidies for Airbus. Before you could say "Boeing", Brussels made clear that it would hit back with its […]

The Democrats have scored a stunning victory in the midterm Congressional elections. It looks like they have captured control of not only the House of Representatives but also the Senate. Both President Bush and Nancy Pelosi, the incoming speaker of the House, have pledged to work together in a spirit of bipartisanship. Pigs might fly, […]