IB Econ HL Section B

Colombia initiated talks about a free trade agreement with Singapore that could clear the path to Colombia's membership of the APEC Pacific Rim trading bloc.

This article is about epresentatives from 12 South American countries signing an agreement to create a political and economic bloc modelled on the European Union.

This article is about the possibility of a free trade area in Africa. This has been suggested as an anti-poverty strategy. Many barriers to trade currently exist between African countries, and their removal may encourage economic growth.

The US Congress is expected to back a set of punitive tariffs on Chinese imports in order to compensate for the artificial lowering of the value of the yuan. China's currency makes its products very cheap. The US is engaging in this protectionism in order to protect domestic workers.

This article mentions a possible tariff to be applied on cheap chinese products in the US. Such protectionism would result in higher prices for consumer, and possible retaliation from China.

This article talks about developing countries, such as China and India, wanting to join in free trade with more developed countries in Europe and the US.

This article is about the attempt to agree on a free trade pact between the US and South Korea. The economies of both countries are hurt by protectionist measures, as they restrict the amount of exports.

In an effort to combat what is seen as deliberate action on the part of the Chinese government to keep that value of its currency artificially low to improve the competitiveness of exports in foreign markets, The US has considered devaluing its own currency. This has led to criticism from China and Russia.

Tobias Levkovich, chief US equity strategist for Citigroup says that protectionism can cause inflation ,a drop-off in business activity, and that US has other options to counteract the unemployment against cheaper import goods.

Against a backdrop of stubbornly high unemployment, both major political parties in the US have picked out China as a target for anger and, perhaps, protectionism. Concerned that cheap Chinese industries are usurping US jobs, politicians are threatening protectionist measures.

The Tea Board of India announced that they will set up a tea quality testing laboratory top control export quality of brew and inspect if it meets international quality and safety standards.

This article analyses the economic rationale of Brazil's tariff policy during the first two years of the Plano Real. To this end, a study is made of the changes made in import duties for all the products traded. The tariff reform process in Brazil was begun in 1988, after the old Tariff Act had been in effect for thirty years, and represented a marked intensification in the process of trade openness, with the definition of a schedule of gradually decreasing tariffs which was further speeded up as from 1990.

This article is about a US imported product--Toyota brand cars from Japan--with safety issues. Because the problems with the accelerator pedals could be a concern for US consumers, the United States government may have considered taking action. This would be administrative protectionism.

A group of United States congressmen yesterday sent a letter drafted with their legislative counterparts in Korea to Presidents Barack Obama and Lee Myung-bak urging the renegotiation of the U.S.-Korea bilateral free trade agreement. The letter calls for restrictions on certain service industries and a revision of provisions on a dispute settlement mechanism involving foreign companies. Beef and auto provisions, the main stumbling block to the ratification of the pact on the U.S. side, were not mentioned.

The objective of this article is to describe how the transformation of the trade and industrialization regime is taking place in Ecuador and what are the systemic factors which condition the realization of this transformation. A long-run perspective of economic policy and growth in Ecuador (considering the whole of the twentieth century) reveals that growth has been relatively fast compared to other countries in the region, with exports as the driving force of that growth

Saudi Electricity Co., a state- controlled utility, said third-quarter profit advanced 34 percent on higher tariffs for power in the Arab world's biggest economy. This is relevant to this week's topic because here, tariffs is considered as a major source of government revenue.

This article is about the Russian automobile industry and it mentions the need for trade to improve technology.

This article talks about England raising the previously discounted tariff on energy.

Malaysia is planning to join on the Trans-Pacific Partnership that United States is pushing to help its companies compete with counterparts in China and Europe.

This article is talking about the unbalance between rich and poor countries in free trade. Here the article is raising the question about whether Africa benefits from free trade, or if it actually hurts the economy.

As growth in national economies continues to falter, many countries are attempting to increase their domestic prosperity by discouraging the sale of foreign products. With tariffs and other protective measures, countries are decreasing free trade in the interest of assissting domestic producers.