World Perspectives

TPA Fight, GSP and Commodity Shocks

TPA Moves Up: Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), the U.S. president's ability to ask Congress for an up or down vote on trade agreements, thus barring them from amendment, is back on the front burner this year after mostly being avoided in years past. The reasons include not only moving the expected Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement through Congress, but also allowing the Legislative Branch to provide guidance to the White House as to its expectations, and as a similar signal to trading partners. The problem is the large number of signals being contemplated and the divergence of the two parties on some of them. For example, the usual fight over the extent of labor and environmental objectives in an agreement.However, there also are...

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From WPI Consulting

Infrastructure investment due diligence

On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.

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