Global Services Network Alert, March 30, 2004

AEI Studies on Services Trade Negotiations. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has developed a series of studies on negotiations to liberalize trade in services. Each study focuses on a particular service sector, identifies the major obstacles to liberalization in that area, and presents policy options for trade negotiators and interested private-sector participants. The studies are described briefly below, and are available directly from AEI at http://www.aei.org/research/filter.economic,subjectID.8/projectfilter_detail.asp.

  1. The Doha Round and Financial Services Negotiations, by Sydney Key. Key recommends that the financial services negotiations in the Doha round aim to bind existing and ongoing liberalization, narrow or withdraw broad most-favored-nation exemptions, strengthen GATS disciplines on regulatory transparency, and remove barriers to "effective market access."

  2. The Audiovisual Services Sector in the GATS Negotiations, by Patrick A. Messerlin, Stephen E. Siwek, and Emmanuel Cocq. Messerlin and Cocq optimistically outline ongoing profound economic and technological changes in importing countries, including the large European Union film market. Siwek analyzes in detail the specific market access and national treatment commitments made by the United States, Japan, and the EU in audiovisual services under the GATS.

  3. Liberalizing Global Trade in Energy Services, by Peter C. Evans. Evans recommends reducing existing trade barriers and restraining the introduction of new ones in the energy sector, enhancing market access and national treatment for energy service providers, creating a more transparent regulatory environment, and encouraging procompetitive regulatory reform of electric power, gas, and oil sectors in WTO member-states.

  4. Reducing the Barriers to International Trade in Accounting Services, by Lawrence J. White. White argues against widespread market access restrictions and describes the pros and cons of harmonizing accounting standards and the mutual recognition of standards. He proposes a list of procompetitive regulatory principles for establishing "best practices" that would serve as a model for all nations and possibly become the basis for a new GATS accounting agreement.

  5. Insurance in the General Agreement on Trade in Services, by Harold D. Skipper, Jr. Skipper recommends securing deeper and more widespread commitments to greater market access and adopting regulatory principles that ensure impartiality, adequate consumer protection, transparency, and minimal intrusiveness. If financial services agreements are structured in this way, more efficient markets will enhance consumer choice and value and also benefit each country’s national interests.

  6. Trade Liberalization in Aviation Services. Can the Doha Round Free Flight?, by Brian Hindley. Hindley provides a strategy for liberalizing the aviation services industry starting with the aviation-intensive express delivery sector. He argues that WTO agreements facilitating express delivery are feasible, would benefit the world economy, and would be a valuable introduction to the WTO for international aviation in general.

Trade Advisory Groups Report on U.S. FTAs with Australia and CAFTA, March 16 and March 22, 2004. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative has released the reports prepared by private sector advisory groups which assess the recently completed US free trade agreements with Australia and CAFTA. The reports cover the full range of industry sectors, including services. The reports on Australia are available at http://www.ustr.gov/new/fta/Australia/advisor/index.htm, and the reports on CAFTA are available at http://www.ustr.gov/new/fta/Cafta/advisor/index.htm.

Job Losses and Trade: A Reality Check. Paper by Brink Lindsey, Cato Institute. In this paper, Lindsey looks at the current controversy over outsourcing jobs overseas, and finds that job losses are normal, productivity is up, the U.S. runs a net surplus in IT, and the drop in manufacturing jobs is unrelated to U.S. imports. The paper is available at http://www.freetrade.org/pubs/briefs/tbp-019es.html.