WTO及RTA中心圖書館WTO&RTA Center Library

Purpose-International trade and its effects on the environment are increasingly discussed both in academia and by policymakers. To counter negative effects of international trade on the environment, so called environmental provisions have been integrated in trade agreements aimed at businesses and economies. However, as both the intent and effectiveness of these provisions are controversial, this paper aims to provide an overview of the current state of research and identified key factors influencing their effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach-The authors conduct a systematic literature review of 44 papers on the effects of environmental provisions in international trade agreements on the environmental performance of businesses, as well as economies from 1992 to mid-2024. Findings-The integration of environmental provisions into trade agreements generally has positive effects on the environment while their effectiveness is influenced by their design and several boundary conditions. Alongside the importance of effective enforcement mechanisms, reputation concerns of businesses and lobbyism are discussed as intermediary factors in the design and impact of environmental provisions. Practical implications-The insights can benefit policymakers to optimize future environmental provisions and advance the effectiveness of policies aimed at balancing the effects of trade liberalization with environmental protection. Social implications-Social sustainability is increasingly relevant for creating more sustainable trade policy while societal mechanisms seem to be an adequate tool to ensure effective enforcement of ecological provisions. Originality/value-To the best of the authors' knowledge, this review is the first of its kind to provide a systematic overview of the literature on the effectiveness of environmental provisions that combines the micro-level of businesses and macro-level of economies, although the importance for trade in general and environmental protection, in particular, has been recognized in the academic literature.

The trade-off between trade welfare and environmental protection has long been an important issue. However, the role of environmental regulation in balancing trade with the environment has not yet been explored. This article investigates the effect of heterogeneous environmental provisions in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) on the export structure of an emerging economy. Using panel data for China and its 19 trading partners from 2002 to 2016, we estimate the effects of tariff decline under PTAs (tariff channel) and environmental provisions under PTAs (non-tariff channel) on trade flows. Specifically, the single-country gravity model is employed to empirically analyze the impact of China's PTA environmental provisions on its export structure. We also apply various measurements regarding heterogeneous environmental provisions at the PTA level developed by Kohl et al. (World Econ 39(1): 97-131, 2016) and Berger et al. (German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut f & uuml;r Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), 2017). The relative comparative advantage (RCA) index is added as a control variable to avoid the potential endogeneity problem. Various fixed effects are also added. The main results indicate that PTAs with environmental provisions inhibit the export of China's energy-consuming products. Meanwhile, PTAs with deeper environmental provisions exert an even larger inhibiting influence on China's export of energy-consuming products. The paper contributes to the literature on the PTA trade effects and the effects of PTA environmental provisions and provides policy insights for China and other emerging economies to strike a balance between export trade and environmental protection.

This study examines the effects of trade and investment liberalization on women's entrepreneurship activities, particularly in developing countries. Research has shown that trade and investment liberalization bring capital and knowledge transfers, which would increase the rate of new business formation in emerging markets. However, to our knowledge, no research has differentiated the impact of trade and investment liberalization on men's and women's entrepreneurship. Hence, this paper fills the gap in the literature by emphasizing women's entrepreneurship activities and by utilizing two-way fixed effects and dynamic panel data approaches with newly available datasets. Our analysis indicates that trade and investment liberalization promotes women's entrepreneurship, particularly in developing countries' manufacturing industries.

The study introduces the process of implementing tariff commitments in free trade agreements (FTAs) and applying tariffs in implementing Vietnam's international trade policies. At the same time, evaluates the Factors affecting these tariffs in the context of Vietnam's extensive participation in international integration and signing of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. Along with modernizing customs procedures to meet the FTAs, Vietnam's tariff policies are also promptly completed to be compatible with commitments. The authors use qualitative research methods to collect data in ' non-numerical' form to evaluate the research object, which are new types of preferential tariffs and special incentives. Data is collected from government agencies and businesses that directly enforce import tariffs. Within the framework of the research, the author has delved into the fundamental legal principles of the WTO: favoured nation, national treatment, market openness and fair competition, practicality on Vietnam's import tax policy, thereby serving as a basis for comparing promulgated tax policies and proposing perfect solutions implementation of preferential tariffs and special preferential tariffs for trade agreements.

The article analyses Vietnam's commitment to implementing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) from a regulatory framework. Because FTAs are important for trade facilitation between member countries, Vietnam is seeking to complete the commitments as soon as possible. Therefore, a review of Vietnamese trade legislation to align its law with FTA obligations and commitments is warranted. The law reviewed in this study has a direct impact on Vietnam's foreign trade. Most, but not all, FTA obligations have been implemented in Vietnamese law, with just a small portion likely to be incorporated into domestic legal documents in the near future. Full compliance with FTA obligations, as well as their implementation, would maintain momentum as Vietnam enhances its economic development.

In response to the impasse caused by the US blockade of the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement body, 52 Member-states have converged on a innovative workaround: the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA). This article asks two questions related to this singular, yet overlooked initiative in global governance: first, what determines who joins a novel enforcement mechanism in the midst of a global "backlash" against trade liberalization? Secondly, does the MPIA work? Examining countries' trade policy in the run-up to the MPIA's creation suggests that the main motivation for MPIA participation is the possibility to challenge trade partners' measures; vulnerability to others' challenges, conversely, does not deter joining. The same analysis can be used to predict subsequent MPIA entrants, in ways that match anecdotal evidence. A corollary finding is that insofar as the US reasons similarly to other countries, its trade profile suggests it does not stand to gain much from more credible enforcement, which may explain its lack of zeal during WTO reform negotiations. Secondly, looking at dyadic trade measures over time, we offer evidence that even at this early stage, the MPIA generates deterrence among its members, and this effect is growing. From an institutional standpoint, the experiment appears to be working: the MPIA is not only an interim solution, but also a prototype for institutional innovation in the face of backlash.

Negotiations to liberalize trade in environmental goods are a key indicator for the World Trade Organization's (WTO) capacity to pursue climate and environmental objectives. Experience with Environmental Goods Agreement negotiations within the WTO demonstrates the necessity to establish obligations and/or procedures that link environment and trade law as the WTO pursues a sustainability agenda.

I develop a dynamic general-equilibrium model that combines the Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides labor market with the standard Ricardian model of international trade to investigate the potential role of unemployment as a justification for trade policy implementation. First, I compare a competitive equilibrium and a constrained-efficient equilibrium and then establish the condition in which the competitive equilibrium is constrained-efficient. Second, I show that free trade is optimal only when labor market inefficiency is absent. A small open economy may employ expansionary trade policies (such as export subsidies or reduced import tariffs) if it experiences inefficiently high unemployment. This study provides a rationale behind countries' tendency to use export subsidies.

We evaluate the efficacy of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations 2012, which set the global standard on combating money laundering and terrorist financing, by exploiting its staggered adoption in 16 East and South African countries. Using the trade gap as a proxy for trade-related fraud activities, such as trade-based money laundering, we find that the adoption of the FATF recommendations is correlated with a 15.3% reduction in trade-related fraud. The FATF is particularly effective within countries with capable state and low corruption. The amount by which FATF adoption can reduce trade-related fraud depends on a country's compliance level. Our results are robust to a series of robustness checks and contribute to a lively policy debate surrounding the role of international organizations in combating the financing of organized crimes.