November 2021 

Institute for International Trade

A message from the director

EU-Australia trade relations have been in the news in recent weeks for the wrong reasons, namely the fallout over the cancelled French Naval Group submarines contract. In its wake two negotiating rounds of the EU-Australia FTA have been postponed, with talks now slated to resume in February 2022. Whilst regrettable, this does not change the strategic logic of French, and EU, engagement with Australia, not least to cement the rules-based trading system in the face of shared and growing threats to it. The EU explicitly acknowledged this when it released its Indo-Pacific strategy in September this year.

In that light, our first Policy Brief encourages EU foreign and trade policy actors to seriously consider mounting a bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. As my co-author, Dr Naoise McDonagh, and I acknowledge the trade regulation minutiae would be challenging to reconcile, but the strategic case is compelling. Our thanks to the Lowy Institute for publishing this piece.

Otherwise this newsletter focuses on augmenting the positive case for liberalising services trade, as built up by our Jean Monnet funded Trade and Investment in Services Associates network.

George Riddell kicks off with a preview of the main potential services trade benefits in the forthcoming Australia-UK FTA, encompassing professional services mobility, digital trade access and regulatory alignment, as well as financial services, inter alia. There is much for business in both countries to be pleased about. By contrast, Sherry Stephenson laments the lack of focus on the critical role of services in the 82 reform proposals submitted to the WTO concerning moving essential goods across borders during the pandemic. Fortunately, as she notes APEC Trade Ministers have highlighted this issue in their Statement on “Services to Facilitate Trade in Essential Goods”. Finally, Pascal Kerneis makes the case for a subset of WTO members, around 50, to build on the mooted e-commerce Joint Statement Initiative that will hopefully be concluded at the WTO’s Twelfth Ministerial Conference later this month by consolidating cross-border data flow provisions. Interestingly, these 50 members are essentially a CPTPP core, including the US whose Obama-era trade policy imprint is firmly on the CPTPP, and the EU. And thus the wheel returns to the EU signing up to the CPTPP.

Finally, don’t forget to register for the final TIISA conference taking place next week – and run your eye over our exciting course offerings.

Best regards,

Professor Peter Draper

POLICY & ENGAGEMENT 

THE MISSING ANCHOR: WHY THE EU SHOULD JOIN THE CPTPP

The CPTPP trade agreement is an important pillar for ensuring a rules-based, market-oriented trade environment in Asia-Pacific. In the absence of U.S. participation this policy brief, written for the Lowy Institute, argues the EU should consider joining to cement a rules-based trading order in the region.

Professor Peter Draper, Executive Director of the Institute for International Trade & Interim Head: School of Economics and Public Policy and Dr Naoise McDonagh, Lecturer in Political Economy at the Institute for International Trade

THE LANDING ZONE IN TRADE AGREEMENTS FOR CROSS-BORDER DATA FLOWS 

Global e-commerce is governed by a dense web of preferential trade agreements (PTAs), yet our knowledge of e-commerce governance systems remains limited. Mapping the current architecture of the system reveals important structural features and properties which can have an impact on system outcomes.

Dr Pascal Kerneis, Managing Director of European Services Forum (ESF)

STUDY WITH US

EVENTS 

TIISA 2021 CONFERENCE: TRADE AND THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF SERVICES

PhD Workshop: 8-9 November 2021

Conference: 10-12 November 2021

The hybrid TIISA Annual Conference is on the theme of “Trade and the digital transformation of services”. The COVID-19 crisis has seen an acceleration of the digital transformation of services and a rise in remote delivery of services both within and across borders. There is consequently an impetus to update trade policy and regulatory frameworks to unleash the potential for the digital transformation to support sustainable growth and job creation all over the world. Against this backdrop we invite papers covering, but not limited to, the following topics:

• The digital transformation of services and the WTO rule book
• The digital transformation of services: lessons from free trade agreements and digital economy agreements
• Digital transformation, services trade and jobs
• Innovation, entrepreneurship and the development of new digital services
• Regulatory impact on data-driven innovation in (digital) services (e.g. data and privacy protection, GDPR)
• The role of competition and competition policy in shaping global digital services markets
• Sector studies of digital transformation and trade (e.g. finance, telecom, media, health, education