TRADE POLICY LEADERSHIP SEMINAR
NCSL 2005 Fall Forum
December 6-7, 2005
Co-sponsored by:
NCSL Economic Development, Trade & Cultural Affairs Committee
North Carolina Department of Commerce
Forum on Democracy & Trade
Procter & Gamble
The NCSL Economic Development, Trade & Cultural Affairs Committee co-hosted the second Trade Policy Leadership Seminar in conjunction with the NCSL Fall Forum on December 6-7, 2005 in Chicago, Illinois. Sponsors included the North Carolina Department of Commerce, International Trade Division, the Forum on Democracy & Trade, and Procter & Gamble. Approximately 50 state legislators, state legislative staff, attorneys general staff, state trade officers, and others were in attendance. Following are session descriptions and links to presentations at the seminar.
Seminar Agenda
A Hong Kong Primer: Major Issues of Concern to States at the WTO Ministerial
December 13 – 18, 2005, the chief trade negotiators from around the world will convene in Hong Kong for the sixth WTO Ministerial Conference on the Doha Development Round. This will be a pivotal meeting in global trade talks and during lunch participants will hear more about some of the key issues that will face the ministers.
Speaker:
Peter Riggs, Executive Director, Forum on Democracy & Trade, New York. Comments
Structural Changes in the Global Economy: How do American Citizens, Communities, and States Adjust?
International trade and changing notions of “comparative economic advantage” create perceived “winners” and “losers.” This session will examine two sets of responses to those economic changes. The first looks at mechanisms employed to help “losers” in globalization cope with and transition to new economic opportunities. A case study of North Carolina’s experience with one firm (PillowTex) will be examined. U.S. Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) will be considered in relation to how other industrial nations cope with workforce adjustment. The second response considers the idea of “transnational communities as entrepreneurs,” focusing on how U.S. citizens and immigrants of Mexican and Central American heritage are taking advantage of new investment opportunities opened up by trade agreements and also how hometown associations of immigrants are seeking to generate resources to assist with community development throughout Mexico as well as in their “new hometown” of Chicago.
Speakers:
Howard Rosen, Executive Director, Trade Adjustment Assistance Coalition, District of Columbia. Click here to view Powerpoint Presentation.
Byron Zuidema, Regional Administrator, U.S. Department of Labor, Illinois.
Impact of Investor-State Issues
The investment chapters of international trade agreements have created a great deal of concern for state policymakers. Experiences with investor-state cases arising from NAFTA Chapter 11 have caught many by surprise and brought trade closer to state capitals than anticipated. This session will review pending NAFTA Chapter 11 cases currently pending, the recently decided Methanex case award and state-federal cost recovery issues, investment provisions in the CAFTA-DR agreement in light of the WTO Antigua-Barbuda gambling case, concerns about energy and mining challenges in the broader context of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), and efforts by states, NCSL, and others to provide more oversight on these issues.
Speakers:
Tara Mueller, Deputy Attorney General, Department of Justice, California.
Luke Peterson, Editorial Director, INVEST-SD: Investment Treaty News, CANADA.
William Waren, Policy Director, Forum on Democracy & Trade, District of Columbia.
Improving Federal State Consultation and Trade Policy Capacity
How the federal government works with the U.S. states on trade issues is central to may of the concerns that state policymakers have been raising. This session will analyze and compare federal-subfederal policy relations in the United States and Canada, including findings by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Speakers:
Karen Cordry, Bankruptcy Counsel, National Association of Attorneys General, District of Columbia.
James Perttula, Team Leader/Senior Policy Advisor, Trade and International Policy Branch, Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, CANADA. Powerpoint
Michelle Sager, Project Manager/Senior Analyst, U.S. Government Accountability Office, District of Columbia. Click her to view Powerpoint Click here to view Powerpoint Presentation.
WTO Issues in Details: An Overview
What are the WTO agreements of greatest importance to state governance and economic development strategies? The panels today look at this question in relation to the WTO Services, Agriculture, Subsidies, and Procurement agreements as well as at recent WTO dispute cases that cite these agreements.
Speaker:
Kay Alison Wilkie, International Policy Analyst, Department of Economic Development, New York and Chair, USTR Intergovernmental Policy Advisory Committee. Comments
WTO Issues in Detail: Services and Domestic Regulation
Services currently represent over 70% of the American economy and they remain one of the critical areas of negotiations at the WTO Ministerial. This session provides an overview of the GATS agreement and why it’s of particular interest to states. Particular attention will be given to one area of on-going negotiation – on energy services – and one area of on-going dispute resolution – on gambling – with a discussion of the ‘domestic regulation’ discipline and its implications.
Speakers:
Senator Jerry Grafstein, Co-Chair, Canada-U.S. Interparliamentary Group and Chair, Banking and Trade Committee, Senate of Canada, CANADA. Comments
Robert Stumberg, Clinical Director, Harrison Institute of Public Law, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, District of Columbia. Click here to view Powerpoint Presentation.
WTO Issues in Detail: Agriculture and Subsidies
This session provides a forum for discussing the impact of existing WTO disciplines on state rural and industrial development programs – as well as some of the creative regional solutions used to advance economic development in ways that comply with U.S. trade commitments. How will WTO rules and the Brazil cotton case, among others, impact U.S. farm programs and the 2007 Farm Bill reauthorization process? What’s the context for the discussion on economic development subsidies or tax incentives, with possible reference both to the WTO Boeing-Airbus case and the recent 6th Circuit Cuno decision?
Speakers:
Mary Bottari, Director, Harmonization Project, Public Citizen, Wisconsin.
Praveen Dixit, Director, Office of Competitiveness and Economic Analysis – Manufacturing and Services, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, District of Columbia.
David Naftzger, Executive Director, Council of Great Lakes Governors, Illinois. Click here to view Powerpoint Presentation.
Matthew Porterfield, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, District of Columbia.
WTO Issues in Detail: States and International Procurement
During the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) adopted the policy of asking governors whether they wished to commit their states to WTO disciplines in the General Procurement Agreement. While states have appreciated this flexibility, some have argued that such commitments must also be approved by state legislatures since it impacts their spending powers. Earlier this year, Maryland became the first state in the Union to legislatively overturn the Governor’s commitment to be bound by the procurement chapter of trade agreements. This session will examine the motives for and effects of Maryland’s legislative action as well as states’ concerns in light of Maryland’s experience. Panelists will also address state purchasing power as a tool of sustainable economic development, through intelligent global sourcing of products and services.
Speakers:
Senator Paul Pinsky, Maryland Senate.
Kay Alison Wilkie, International Policy Analyst, Department of Economic Development, New York and Chair, USTR Intergovernmental Policy Advisory Committee.
Program Committee
Peter Cunningham
Director - International Trade
North Carolina Department of Commerce
Jeremy Meadows
Committee Director, Economic Development, Trade & Cultural Affairs Committee
National Conference of State Legislatures
Peter Riggs
Executive Director
Forum on Democracy & Trade
Robert Stumberg
Clinical Director, Harriman Institute of Public Law; Professor of Law
Georgetown University Law Center
Kay Alison Wilkie
International Policy Analyst
Empire State Development/NYS Department of Economic Development
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