Free Republic

Romania and the United States have signed an agreement that would establish the first U.S. military bases in an Eastern European country from the former Soviet bloc. The United States already has the rights to a base in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, and is in the process of vacating one in neighboring Uzbekistan. With the United States already possessing a military presence in much of the world, what does it want with even more foreign bases? Washington, 7 December 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Romanian President Traian Basescu seemed as pleased to be hosting the bases as the Americans are...

YES!

Australia delivered a withering denunciation of China's trade policies Thursday, accusing Beijing of undermining the World Trade Organization and foot-dragging on promised economic reforms. During a usually routine WTO review in Geneva, Canberra's representatives said China had benefited "significantly" from 20 years of WTO membership but was not keeping its end of the bargain. ... ..."China has increasingly tested global trade rules and norms by engaging in practices that are inconsistent with its WTO commitments," the Australian government said in a statement. "By undermining agreed trade rules China also undermines the multilateral trading system on which all WTO members rely."...

… In 2019, China emitted 10.2 billion metric tons of CO2 — nearly twice as much as the United States (5.3 billion metric tons) — representing nearly 28% of global emissions. […] … “If you look at only one number, you’re only getting one side of the story,” says Shyla Raghav, vice president of climate change at Conservation International, an environmental organization headquartered in the United States. To get more insight, it’s worth looking at carbon dioxide emissions per capita. […] In the case of carbon dioxide, it is important to know that from a human perspective, the gas can...

The World Trade Organization chief called on Wednesday (May 5) for international agreement on how to ensure more equal access to COVID-19 vaccines, amid an ongoing standoff over a proposed patent waiver for the jabs. "The way the WTO handles this matter is critical," Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told country representatives taking part a meeting of the WTO general council, the organisation's main decision-making body. "We need to have a sense of urgency on how we approach this issue of response to COVID-19 because the world is watching," she said, describing equitable access to the tools to fight the pandemic as the...

The United States Chamber of Commerce is cheering the newly confirmed head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Nigerian economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who has the backing of China. Okonjo-Iweala, who was opposed by the Trump administration for the top WTO spot, was supported by the Biden administration and received praise on Monday from China’s Commerce Ministry, which said they have “full confidence” in her appointment. Former U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer previously suggested that the Trump administration did not support Okonjo-Iweala because of her lack of experience with trade issues — the core function of the WTO.

GENEVA - Three months after the Trump administration rejected her, former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is set to receive unanimous backing on Monday to become the first woman and first African director-general of the World Trade Organization. A self-declared “doer” with a track record of taking on seemingly intractable problems, Okonjo-Iweala will have her work cut out for her at the trade body, even with Donald Trump, who had threatened to pull the United States out of the organisation, no longer in the White House. A 25-year veteran of the World Bank, where she oversaw an $81 billion portfolio,...

Lisa Fithian is a radical revolutionary who has been organizing chaos operations and antigovernment demonstrations in the United States for decades. Lisa Fithian was a key organizer of violent demonstrations that caused the shutdown of the 1999 WTO meetings in Seattle, Washington. Fithian is an anti-capitalist revolutionary.

The Clinton, Bush, and Trump families will forever be intertwined in not just American history, but the history of the world. The past several years have certainly seen a major change in what once seemed to be a warm relationship between the Trumps and the Clintons, two elite New York clans inhabiting similar circles that have now become the political equivalent of the Hatfields and McCoys. To a lesser extent, because they never seemed particularly close, the same can be said about the Trump and Bush families as well. We also all remember prior to his being nominated as the...

In its decision, the WTO’s dispute settlement body ruled against the U.S. government’s argument that China has wrongly engaged in practices harmful to U.S. interests on issues including intellectual property theft and technology transfer. The U.S. tariffs target two batches of Chinese products. Duties of 10% were imposed on some $200 billion worth of goods in September 2018, and were jacked up to 25% eight months later. An additional 25% duties were imposed in June 2018 against Chinese goods worth about $34 billion in annual trade. The Trump administration has justified the sanctions under Section 301 of the Trade Act...

Roberto Azevedo stepped down as director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on August 31, becoming the first to do so before the end of his term. Azevedo's surprise announcement was made in May, and the Brazilian was in the third year of his second four-year term. Eight candidates from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America are vying for the post, but world events are rapidly making this competition irrelevant. There is no U.S. candidate, nor does there need to be one, as Washington should shun the WTO as an organization that is not just useless, but illegitimate. The WTO...

Will Biden disavow his decades of support for China’s rise and follow Trump’s lead? Communist China poses a greater threat to America and our interests abroad than any other nation in the world. If it wasn’t clear prior to the spread of the Chinese coronavirus, resulting largely from the Chinese Communist Party’s Chernobyl-like response, the subsequent threats should crystallize this point. It has acted malevolently toward the U.S., our European and Anglosphere allies, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and India, and across the South China Sea. Countering the CCP is essential to preserving American life, limb, and liberty. The public deserves to...

The head of the World Trade Organization said Thursday he will leave his post a year before his term expires, an unprecedented mid-term resignation at the WTO that he called a “personal decision.” Roberto Azevedo, a former diplomat from Brazil, said he will step down on Aug. 31, cutting short a seven-year tenure marked in recent years by intense pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who accused the Geneva-based trade body of an anti-U.S. bias and other complaints. “This is a decision that I do not take lightly,” Azevedo told a special meeting of WTO delegations. “It is a personal...

With the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the Cold War virtually disappeared. In the 1990s, the People's Republic of China (PRC) was admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Under Deng Xiaoping (premier of China, 1978–1992), the PRC had begun to set up empowerment zones and allowed capitalist multinational corporations to operate within their borders. McDonald's has some nice fast food outlets in China, and many of our medicines as well as our Barbie dolls are manufactured there. Chinese restrictions on child-bearing won the hearts of Western liberals, who are convinced that over-population combined with climate change (formerly "global...

Global commerce will lose its ultimate umpire Tuesday, leaving countries unable to reach a final resolution of disputes at the World Trade Organization and instead facing what critics call “the law of the jungle.’’ The United States, under a president who favors a go-it-alone approach to economics and diplomacy, appears to prefer it that way. The terms of two of the last three judges on the WTO’s appellate body neared their end at midnight Tuesday. Their departure will deprive the de facto Supreme Court of world trade of its ability to issue rulings. Among the disputes left in limbo are...

The supreme court of world trade, otherwise known as the “appellate body” of the World Trade Organization, will cease functioning on Wednesday. The court is supposed to have seven members but it currently has four vacancies, with two more members retiring on Tuesday. That leaves one active judge, two short of the number required to rule on international trade disputes. Those vacancies haven’t been filled thanks to the Trump administration’s war on the WTO. The president has criticized the WTO for allowing China to retain its special status as a developing nation (though it's now number two in the world...

The World Trade Organization ruled in favor of the United States Wednesday in a long-running dispute with the European Union over subsidies to Airbus, paving the way for the U.S. to hit the EU with $7.5 billion in retaliatory tariffs........ The U.S. and EU have been fighting since 2004 over whether their respective aerospace industry policies toward Airbus and Boeing amount to unfair practices. The WTO's ruling said the EU subsidized Airbus by giving it preferential treatment on interest rates. "The Appellate Body upheld the Panel’s findings that Airbus paid a lower interest rate ... than would have been available...

The World Trade Organization handed down a ruling yesterday that because the European Union subsidized Airbus in its competition with Boeing, the United States could impose retaliatory tariffs on $7.5 billion in EU exports to the United States. The Wall Street Journal reports on the retaliatory tariffs being planned: The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it would impose the tariffs starting Oct. 18, with 10% levies on jetliners and 25% duties on other products including Irish and Scotch whiskies, cheeses and hand tools. As a Scotch drinker, I am not happy about this, and wonder how many...

The United States will impose tariffs on $7.5 billion (€6.8 billion) worth of European imports in retaliation for illegal EU subsidies to airplane maker Airbus. The announcement came hours after the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Wednesday ruled on a 15-year-old case that the US could impose $7.5 billion in retaliatory tariffs in response to illegal EU subsidies to Airbus that hurt its American rival Boeing. Washington plans to impose a 10% tariff on aircraft imported from Europe and apply a 25% import tax on other agricultural and industrial items on October 18, the Office of the US Trade Representative...

The Kremlin made the comment in response to a question about U.S. media reports which said Trump had threatened on Tuesday to pull out of the WTO over what he described as the organization's unfair treatment of the United States.