Trade versus Aid Former New Zealand Trade Ambassador Mike Moore made note that through most of the multilateral trade negotiations, developing countries had never been asked to offer any concessions. Instead, rich countries led the negotiations, made their own concessions and then gave some breadcrumbs to the poor countries. As a result, the developing countries still see this as the primary function of the WTO. Unable to reach a consensus on most issues ahead of the MC-12 ministerial, DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has a draft text that mostly says that members will continue best endeavors to reach an agreement. The failure to include a permanent concession to public stockholding has upset developing countries. One coordinator for a bloc o...
A federal appeals court paused a USITC ruling against President Trump’s use of Section 122 to impose 10-percent global tariffs. A bipartisan group of 80 House members asked USTR to investigate specialty crop imports from Mexico for unfair trade practices. India notified the WT...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.