Showing posts with label Aliza Kempner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aliza Kempner. Show all posts
By Aliza Kempner

As the conflict continues to smolder between Russia and Ukraine, new participants are hoping to step onto the natural gas scene. Azerbaijan, a small country seated between Russia and Iran, is looking to build a $45 billion natural gas pipeline to channel gas into Europe, territory previously covered by Russia’s natural gas supply. Connecting its drilling operations in the Caspian Sea to Italy, the preliminary plan is to carry 16 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.

Politico has more on Azerbaijan’s ambitious plan and the possible threat it poses to Vladimir Putin. 
Read More
April 23, 2014
By Aliza Kempner

In response to the United States’, Japan’s, and other countries’ complaints, the WTO acknowledged that China’s restricting sales of materials like lithium and tungsten have provided Chinese firms with a leg up in the competition for manufacturing lucrative products. Lawmakers and free-trade advocates in the United States have cautioned that China’s behavior has been threatening American businesses and national security by increasing the manufacturing costs of smartphones, solar panels, and batteries for hybrid and electric cars and blocking important materials for defense. 

However, the grass may not be greener, after all. Foreign Policy explores the implication of the WTO’s holding that countries can’t limit exports just to guarantee preferential access to raw materials for domestic industries, and how that decision may fuel the debate around the exportation of U.S. energy sources.
Read More
April 21, 2014
By Aliza Kemner

Kesha and Pitbull aren’t the only players on the scene discussing timber these days. China, the biggest consumer, producer, and exporter of timber in the world, participated in a “Timber Legality Training workshop” in Guangzhou to raise awareness of regulations governing the timber trade. 

Given the impact of illegal logging and timber trade on areas including conservation, reduced profitability of legal trade, loss of foreign revenue, and currency exchange, this issue touches on all sorts of domestic, supply, and destination country legislation. 

Check out TRAFFIC for the scoop on the latest collaboration between the wildlife protection organization, WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN), the China Timber and Wooden Products Distribution Association, and IKEA Supply to combat these issues.
Read More
April 17, 2014
By Aliza Kempner
Work on the Nord Stream pipeline.
By Bair175 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0],
via Wikimedia Commons

The political scene remains fiery in the Crimean peninsula, it’s looking like Ukrainians may soon lose the ability to keep heat in their homes. Gazprom, Russia’s state-owed monopoly of natural gas, is threatening to pull the cord on its subsidized trading of natural gas to Ukraine. This isn’t just Ukraine’s problem either - most of Europe gets its gas from Russia, and the United States may soon add our own fuel to the fire.

In December of last year, former Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych brokered a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow Ukraine to purchase natural gas at a price of $268.50 per thousand cubic meters of gas rather than $400. Ukraine depends on Russia for between 60-70 percent of the gas is uses to heat homes and keep businesses running. Since then, however, Yanukovych has been overthrown in a frenzied uprising, and as the Kremlin recently reminded it, Ukraine still owes Gazprom a whopping $1.55 billion. This is a little more than most countries would be okay with spotting neighbors to cover the gas bill, especially when that neighbor was rumored to have stolen gas transported through its territory en route to Europe and already had a reputation for making late payments. Still, the loss of this deal, which had provided Ukraine with a total saving of $2 billion per year, could be catastrophic for Ukraine, especially as an unsteady new government tries to take charge and Russian troops intensify their attempts to control the region.
Read More
March 20, 2014
By Aliza Kempner

The Open Society Justice Initiative just launched an exciting new website for tracking international justice issues, seeking to “expand awareness and understanding of the role of international justice in holding accountable those responsible for atrocities.”

The International Justice Monitor focuses primarily on prosecutions at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in addition to other courts battling those issues, such as the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

Make sure to check out the International Justice Monitor.
Read More
March 12, 2014
By Aliza Kempner

Your favorite snack or morning smoothie’s staple ingredient may be in danger. 

The global supply of bananas, the world’s most valuable fruit (with export figures hitting 16.5 million tons in 2012) is facing two major troubles in its cultivation. In several countries, the Cavendish, the most popular commercial variety of bananas, has been damaged by Black Sigatoka, a disease that causes blackened leaves and has shown resistance to fungicide. Moreover, a strain of Panama disease called Foc Tropical Race 4 that attacks the Cavendish may soon hit Central and South America, which produce four-fifths of banana exports. 

The Economist explores the banana industry’s historical response to similar complications, and sheds light on the race to find a banana that is both resistant to the two diseases and commercially viable. 
Read More
March 11, 2014
By Aliza Kempner

Toyota has shown signs of bouncing back and better than ever after several years of setbacks. Healthy sales and an inflated yen helped drive earnings, expected to hit 1.9 trillion yen in net profit for the fiscal year ending in March. 

After the financial crisis, a series of recalls worldwide, and the tsunami in Japan, Toyota has streamlined production, outsourced some manufacturing to less costly countries and strengthened its lineup. The New York Times gives a rich picture of the economics and tactics behind Toyota’s bounce back.
Read More
February 11, 2014
By Aliza Kempner

The United States and eleven other countries have sought to strengthen environmental protections worldwide in negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership. However, a draft chapter of the agreement WikiLeaks exposed last week reveals that many of the countries involved are seeking to undercut that goal. While the American proposal includes penalties in cases of environmental disputes, Pacific nations see things differently, advocating for a process without disciplinary teeth.

The New York Times considers the misgivings that could ensue, as some Trans-Pacific Partnership countries reject binding commitments on environmental issues, but appear willing to include similar terms in areas such as state expropriation of private businesses.
Read More
February 10, 2014
By Aliza Kempner

Thanks to new urban affluence and a penchant for the color red, China has become the biggest market worldwide for red wine. Over 1.8 billion bottles sold in China in 2013, with economists attributing the surge to the color’s affiliation with the Communist government and good luck, in contrast with the color white, commonly associated with death in Chinese culture. Since the mid-2000s, sales have steadily climbed and today’s sales figures demonstrate a 175 percent increase from those in 2005. 

The Guardian sheds light on this trend in the world of vin rouge as well as the interactions between state restrictions on corporate excesses and wine-makers looking for new customers.
Read More
February 06, 2014
By Aliza Kempner

President Barack Obama’s mission to place the U.S. stamp of approval on two of the largest free trade deals in our country’s history is hitting some turbulence. 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has questioned the White House’s approach to gaining concessions from other countries to finalize the Pacific Rim and European Union pacts without amendments and by skirting debate. Reid and other Democrats fear that the deals could cause serious injury to American labor and environmental protections and also harm the recovering U.S. job market. 

Politico examines the political undercurrent that leaves the agreement in a precarious position, with trade experts warning that other countries might dodge political risks in agreeing to a deal without the United States paving the way.
Read More
February 05, 2014
By Aliza Kempner
African elephant tusks | WikiCommons

Last month, the deafening crunch of nearly six tons of ivory trumpeted in a new era for international crime fighting and conservation. The United States had seized the massive haul of ivory, illegally harvested from endangered African and Asian elephants, over several years. U.S. agents had seized the ivory from airports and cargo ships, often discovering ivory hidden in the false bottoms of suitcases and shipping crates or disguised by dark brown stain to disguise its young age.

Pursuant to an executive order from President Barack Obama, the “ivory tower” of carvings and trinkets met its demise in massive rock crushers on a sunny Colorado morning – a fate far removed from the gilded displays that many of these pieces had occupied previously. By destroying the ivory, the Obama administration hopes to send the message that the fruits of illegal poaching will not ripen in America, which had previously offered one of the world’s largest illegal ivory markets.

Ivory has long held a place in both Eastern and Western societies as a luxury good, used to fashion items like combs, piano keys, jewelry, and religious figurines. While bringing ivory into the United States is illegal, a complex loophole allows some ivory to sneak into the domestic market legally.  Meanwhile, demand is up in countries such as China due to a rapidly expanding upper class that sees ivory as a symbol of social status.
Read More
December 07, 2013
By Aliza Kempner

Attention Coca-Cola fans, the beloved recipe might be changing for those of you in Mexico. While the top-selling soda giant switched out cane sugar in its recipes for corn syrup in the United States in the '80s, the Mexican version of the recipe has stuck with cane sugar. 

Arca, Coke’s Mexican bottler, has concerns about the elasticity of demand for its original beverage in light of new soda taxes and may shift to lower cost ingredients. Read on to see what Forbes has to say about the circumstances surrounding this potential change.
Read More
November 16, 2013
By Aliza Kempner

Mexico’s export industry is learning to stay current. With competition growing from other low-cost locations and the lower house of Mexico’s congress approving President Enrique Peña Nieto’s proposal to eliminate a range of deductions and allowances benefiting factories, the companies that use these factories are trying to get involved in design and development.  

Successfully staying in the game could allow the Mexican companies to hold onto American investment in their products as the United States looks closer to home in response to rising costs in China. The Economists examines the context surrounding these departures from the tax policies of the past fifty years.
Read More
November 14, 2013
By Aliza Kempner

The United States is pointing fingers for the continued economic depression and the Germans don’t like it at all. 

The U.S. Treasury report on foreign economic and currency policies asserts that Germany’s huge surplus on current account has created “a deflationary bias for the euro area, as well as for the world economy.” 

While European debtor nations have responded with harsh austerity measures, Germany hasn’t made any adjustments. The New York Times explores the repercussions of Germany’s asymmetrical approach to the trade surplus. 
Read More
November 12, 2013
By Aliza Kempner

The business world is abuzz about the promise of the new Shanghai Free Trade Zone (SFTZ), a policy meant to rouse a broader Chinese reform agenda. With the country’s rising wages and ageing workforce, China has attempted to up its competitive gain, extending permission to enter the SFTZ to a number of domestic firms and American banking giant, Citibank. Because China’s implementation of rules varies across time and geography, the SFTZ could offer promise of a more predictable and transparent regulatory climate. But could the controlling attitude of bureaucrats and regulators curb China’s next stage of development? 

The Economist explores the risks. 
Read More
October 10, 2013
By Aliza Kempner

Across Cambodia, newly minted sugar plantations have generated thousands of jobs for destitute migrant workers and subsistence farmers as well as hundreds of jobs for skilled factory workers. Still, there is reason to believe that international trade pacts fostering exports of products like sugar that seek to help the world’s poorest countries can have the unintended effect of encouraging land grabs by wealthy, politically connected families. Cambodian corporations obtained tens of thousands of acres from the government as economic development concessions for large sugar plantations, while paying modest compensation to families pushed off the land. 

The New York Times paints an interesting picture of the facts on the ground and explains the genesis of the conflicts. 
Read More
October 08, 2013
By Aliza Kempner

There’s a new sheriff in town at the World Trade Organization (WTO), but some think Director General Roberto Azevedo’s plan to add hundreds of billions of dollars to the world economy and instigate wide trade reforms might just be too little, too late. In light of WTO’s consistent failure to agree to any new global trade deal since it was founded in 1995, Azevedo’s plan, the first global trade deal in two decades, has a lot of hurdles to clear. The desired agreement covers several areas, most notably including trade facilitation — a global standardization and simplification of customs procedures that could cut trade costs by 10 percent for developed countries and by 14 percent for developing countries.

Reuters examines the stakes as the countdown to the deadline continues.
Read More
October 06, 2013
By Aliza Kempner

Tension surrounding trade conflicts between Russia and Belarus continues to blossom: this time surrounding the potash industry, a fertilizer whose high price worldwide has remained afloat courtesy of a Belarusian cartel. Pressures from either side have taken an ugly turn, with Russia most recently imposing a slew of trade restrictions.

While the dispute has hurt Russian and Belarusian profits, farmers from Idaho to India have benefited from lower fertilizer prices. Potash serves as one of three main ingredients in widely-used fertilizer for corn and soybean yields, and the price for granular potash in the Midwest has fallen to around $400 a ton, from $420.

The New York Times highlights the details of the hostility between the political leaders and explains the potential windfall to American farmers.
Read More
September 21, 2013
By Aliza Kempner

The Malaysian government is getting serious about ending the illegal ivory trade and is calling on the wildlife trade monitoring network group TRAFFIC for guidance.

Over the last five years, Malaysian ports have seen close to 45 tons of illegally traded African Elephant ivory pass through. Under the new program, employees of the Malaysian Customs Department will receive ivory identification training, discuss smuggling techniques and routes, and talk about opportunities and solutions for ending Malaysia’s role as a transit hub for the pricey and harmful commodity.

Participating officers include those specifically assigned to oversee the implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) regulations.

Read more about what TRAFFIC has to say about this innovative program. 
Read More
September 19, 2013
By Aliza Kempner

With Congress set to implement new country-of-origin (COOL) requirements in response to a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling declaring the old rules protectionist, a U.S. federal judge is having none of meat packers' complaints that these requirements will cost them millions.

The Department of Agriculture’s new labeling procedures require that meat labels separately list where livestock was born, raised, and slaughtered, replacing imprecise descriptions like “Product of USA, Canada.” With both Canada and Mexico threatening trade sanctions, including up to $1 billion in tariffs on U.S. products ranging from meat and apples to jewelry and furniture, this opinion could have far-reaching consequences.


Politico gives us the lowdown on Judge Jackson’s 76-page ruling and its implications. 
Read More
September 15, 2013
Copyright © 2016 Georgetown Journal of International Law Online | By Designscrazed