Events

Is China’s magnificent rise in the world economy increasing the appetite in Beijing to establish the Chinese currency, the Renminbi (RMB), as the leading world currency? China is advancing RMB internationalisation and increasingly takes away restrictions against using the currency for trade and current account transactions. Yet restrictions have not been lifted for all transactions – and capital account liberalisation, including a move to free convertibility, remains a highly charged issue in China.

Yet another attempt to conclude the Doha Round has fizzled out and increasingly frustrated political leaders are now asking serious questions about the Round’s future, if indeed there is one. High-level commitments from G20 summits have not helped to form a better environment for a new global trade agreement – and, overall, the spirit of decisive global economic cooperation at the G20 during the crisis appears to have waned. What are the next steps for global economic leadership – especially for the World Trade Organisation? You are cordially invited to a conference on the politics of trade and global leadership with a panel of seasoned experts and officials.

Passions run high as the European Union is about to overhaul its policy for the protection of intellectual property. In a recent proposal the European Commission has signaled how it wants to reform parts of its IPR policy, and selected members of the EU has launched a new initiative to establish a new system for patents in Europe. Are these initiatives on the right track? Have priority been given to areas which need reform?

The LSE, International Trade Policy Unit, and the ECIPE, would like to cordially invite you to a forthcoming Discussion Forum.

The economic crisis triggered concerns about the return of protectionism in the world economy. But has not protectionism resurfaced in the western world - although in a different form - and become a respectable view as long as it is dressed up as an environmental regulation? Green protectionism is a phenomenon where discriminatory or outright protectionist policies are added to an environmental policy, often without there being a clear rationale for using discrimination to achieve an environmental objective. The question is: has green protectionism become a big problem for the world economy?

Restrictions of online freedom of expression have expanded alarmingly in the past years. Until now, most of Europe has remained silent. But now, after events in Northern Africa and the Middle East, it is time for European leaders to give it the attention it deserves in European policy. What could Europe do to stop online censorship from spreading further?

The global financial crisis knocked world trade off track and triggered a broad reassessment of economic integration policies in developed and developing countries worldwide. A huge shock to the trading system, combined with severe macroeconomic instability, makes it natural for policymakers to revisit the basic assumptions of trade openness and global exchange. However, it is crucial not to lose sight of the dynamic benefits that openness can offer. The real question is how to manage outward-oriented strategies so as to maximize the benefits of openness while minimizing risks.

Online censorship is about to take centre stage in the campaign to improve conditions for human rights, cyber security and commercial freedom of exchange on the Internet. Online censorship may be a recent phenomenon, but it is spreading quickly, increasingly curtails online exchange and has transformed the use of censorship by governments.

The world economy did not collapse during the crisis. Nor did we witness a 1930s style spiraling protectionism. The big wave of globalisation reforms since the 1980s was not reversed. Yet the crisis prompted many governments to go for creeping and murky protectionism, and the crisis exacerbated some pre-crisis trends of economic nationalism and fear of foreign competition. How bad were these policies of crisis-related protectionism – and to what extent will they be a hinder for future economic development?

In a new paper Razeen Sally examines China’s trade policy since its accession to the WTO. China, he argues, has a mixed record on WTO implementation; a flurry of litigation has followed several years of diplomatic reconciliation in dispute settlement; and China has been passive in the Doha Round. In contrast, it has been very active with PTAs, setting off a “domino effect” in east Asia. But its PTAs are “trade light”, driven more by foreign policy than commercial considerations. Unilateral liberalisation – the driving force of external opening in the 1990s – has stalled. There has been very little “WTO-plus” liberalisation, while measures of selective protection, especially related to foreign investment and industrial-policy targeting, have increased. China’s response to the global economic crisis has reinforced these trends, but it does not represent a dramatic increase in protection or fundamentally reverse China’s opening to the world economy.