Category: TRADE AND INVESTMENT RULES

The Co-Benefits of Stakeholder Engagement: Environmental and Social Safeguards, Infrastructure Investment, and Deforestation in the Andean Amazon, 2000-2015

Over the last 15 years, South America’s Western Andean nations have adopted some of the world’s most ambitious environmental and social protections surrounding infrastructure investment, most notably the right to prior consultation for affected indigenous communities. These reforms have been matched by the adoption of equally ambitious environmental and social safeguards (ESS) by the international […]

Jump Starting the African Monetary Fund

The push for intraregional trade in Africa comes at a pivotal moment for the continent. Across the region, growth in gross domestic product remains very uneven. In large part, this sluggish growth is due to the lackluster performance of the three largest economies. But it is also due to increasing debt vulnerabilities across the continent, […]

Wirtz, Kaplan, and Gallagher Publish Op-Ed in The Hill on the USMCA

Kevin P. Gallagher, Director of the Global Development Policy (GDP) Center and Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, co-authored a recent Op-Ed on how the pharmaceutical industry will benefit from the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Gallagher co-wrote the article with School of Public Health Professors Veronika J. Wirtz and Warren A. Kaplan.   […]

Aligning G20 Infrastructure Investment with Climate Goals & the 2030 Agenda

An ambitious global agenda on climate change and sustainable development has emerged from the landmark international agreements of 2015. Together, the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda aim to deliver strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth, reduce global poverty and secure a better and more sustainable […]

Trade Treaties & Access to Medicines: What Does the Evidence Tell Us?

Intellectual property rights (IPR) provisions have become a staple of modern free trade agreements since the 1995 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which set minimum standards for IPR protection for World Trade Organization (WTO) members. TRIPS requires members to provide an intellectual property legal structure encompassing patents, trademarks, copyrights, other provisions […]

Small Gains & Big Risks: Evaluating the Proposed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement

It is no surprise that calls to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) resonated with so many Americans. Numerous studies have documented the negative effects of NAFTA on certain groups, regions and the environment in the US, Mexico and Canada. However, the resulting United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will not restore innovation, industrial jobs, […]