Trading Ideas

As concern over globalization’s negative impacts on rural communities in America grows, there is now a great need to think about how to improve US competitiveness in farm and non-farm jobs, and help those who might lose from globalization adjust and find niches in the new economy. Media reports have recently focused on more effective [...]

Earlier this year, several IPC members participated in a special Salzburg Seminar on February 16-21 in Salzburg, Austria to re-energize the commitment of all parties to complete the Doha Round, and to find ways to unblock the negotiations.
Participants in the seminar actively debated and discussed issues in the current trade round, and left with the [...]

As the dialogue about the rise of biofuels has mostly focused on production in the US and Brazil, it is interesting to see how the biofuels debate is played out in other areas of the world. In this Trading Ideas Q&A, we have asked one of IPC’s members, Hiroshi Shiraiwa, about his views on domestic [...]

IPC Chairman Piet Bukman spoke at the 26th European Agricultural Outlook Conference held in London during the 27th-28th of March, titled “Towards 2013: The Prospects for CAP Reform.” He spoke on the historic context of the creation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the multiple domestic, international, political, and economic forces shaping its future. [...]

IPC’s Charlotte Hebebrand and James Lee have contributed the following post on the pros and cons of “food miles.” 
The “Food Miles” argument is gaining traction. So far, it has sprung up mostly in the UK, but it is finding resonance in other European countries, and groups in the US are also beginning to find it [...]

The benefits and costs of globalization continue to fuel controversy between those who embrace free markets and what globalization promises, and those who are concerned about the potential displacement of some workers. While we should acknowledge that globalization does have costs, it would be wrong to say that countries are unable to address them. IPC [...]

IPC Chief Executive Charlotte Hebebrand and Policy Associate Kara Laney respond to the current state of the Doha Round and the USDA’s recent farm bill proposal
Within a bit over one week, trade ministers agreed to a full resumption of the Doha Negotiations in Davos while the US administration put forward its proposal for the 2007 Farm [...]

IPC Chief Executive Charlotte Hebebrand has contributed the following piece about recent biofuel legislation on both sides of the Atlantic, and suggests that in the midst of promoting domestic biofuel production, we should not rule out future trade in the increasingly appealing commodity.
There is plenty of legislative movement on both sides of the Atlantic on [...]

IPC Member Michael Gifford has contributed the following article commenting on the recent request by the Canadian government for consultations with the United States on its corn subsidies.
Canada’s recent request for formal WTO consultations on certain US agricultural subsidies underscores yet again the vulnerability of the main US domestic farm programs to international challenge. In [...]

This post was contributed by Charlotte Hebebrand, on the trade implications of cloned animals.
The FDA’s draft risk assessment determining that food from cloned animals is safe to eat got my attention even though it was announced in that quiet week between Christmas and New Years. I do not want to - nor am I [...]