Chinese and US Trade - Assured Mutual Dominance Or Destruction?

During the Cold War the United States and Russia were playing a game of chicken with nuclear weapons. This was something that was absolutely insane, and eventually it became labeled MAD which stood for Mutually Assured Destruction; meaning if one of the countries launched a nuclear weapon on the other, the other would retaliate and destroy the nation that launched first. This would mean both nations would be destroyed.

Game theory predicts that that's not a game worth playing. Thank God no one played the game, but in reality no one should have ever been sitting at that table anyway.

Now consider the present period, where the United States and the US are locked together in trade. China produces goods to help us nation grow, and then with the money China buys U.S. Treasury notes, which helps finance our debt. If the United States stops buying products, China will stop buying our treasury notes. If the US consumer decides to boycott Chinese goods, the Chinese economy will collapse, but then the United States government will not be able to perform the services promised to the citizens or consumers that didn't buy the products.

Currently the United States of America has a GDP of between 14 and $17 trillion, China has a GDP which comes in number fourth or fifth in the world. Thanks to all the products that the US buys from China - their nation has experienced nearly a 10% year-over-year growth rate for the last two decades. At this rate eventually China and the US will have equal GDP. Some say, that by working together we are assured Mutual Dominance of the planet.

Others say, if we are not careful with the way we do business we both are insuring ourselves mutual economic destruction. And that of course is the topic of the day at The Online Think Tank. Perhaps you will think about it as well, please consider all this.

Lance Winslow - Lance Winslow's Bio. Lance Winslow thinks everyone should learn about trade and visit all the trade sites online, even this one; mistrade.com

Note: All of Lance Winslow's articles are written by him, not by Automated Software, any Computer Program, or Artificially Intelligent Software. None of his articles are outsourced, PLR Content or written by ghost writers. Lance Winslow believes those who use these strategies lack integrity and mislead the reader. Indeed, those who use such cheating tools, crutches, and tricks of the trade may even be breaking the law by misleading the consumer and misrepresenting themselves in online marketing, which he finds completely unacceptable.

Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Trade Secrets Protect Your Invention!

Patent numbers are issued sequentially, beginning with the number one. Patent number one was issued to Samuel Hopkins on July 31,1790. It took 75 years for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to issue patent number 1,000,000. Patent number 7,000,000 was issued February 14, 2006. It took only seven years for the USPTO to move from issuance of patent number 6,000,000 to 7,000,000.

What does this mean? Simply, there is more creativity now that at any time in history. The old saw that "there is nothing new" is completely wrong. There has never been so many people and entities creating novel, unique products, technology and services, and so driven to commercialize these inventions. More patents and entrepreneurs attempting to market their products is indicative that there is more competition for successful placement.

It is essential that entrepreneur's protect their inventions. This is a form of insurance. To attempt to market an invention without covering the work with the shield of patent, trademark, copyright or trade secret protection indicates a frivolous approach that will not succeed. Investors, licensees, and investors demand the protection that these intellectual property products afford. Even if the entrepreneur is going to self-market the invention, protection is essential in order to fend off competition.

A pharmacist in Atlanta, at the beginning of the 20th century, created a formula for syrup that he sold at the soda fountain in his pharmacy. John Pemberton mixed the syrup with soda water and sold drinks of the concoction as a wellness beverage to cure aches and pains. Mr. Pemberton had created Coca-Cola. He never anticipated that Coke would become an international comfort product, the soft drink. The smartest thing John Pemberton ever did, besides inventing Coca-Cola, was to handle the secret formula for the syrup as a Trade Secret. To this day, the Coca-Cola Bottling Company zealously protects the ingredients and chemistry involved in producing the base syrup that is the essence of classic Coca-Cola.

Big Boy Restaurants protects the recipe for the tartar sauce that goes on their sandwiches, and that many customers buy by the bottle and take home. McDonalds doggedly protects the process their restaurants utilize to cut, cook and season their French-fries. William Wrigley was just as manic in keeping secret his technique for delivering powerfully flavored, long lasting, chewing gum.

Trade Secrets typically are not able to secure patent protections. The novelty of the Trade Secret is in the blending, chemistry or chronology utilized to deliver the finished product. If you have such a recipe you will want to keep this knowledge very near, as it can become very dear. If the public knew the formula for Coca-Cola, quite possibly there would be a lot of consumers keen to blend their own drink at home. Coke would not like that!

If your product has the potential and necessity to become a Trade Secret you will want to follow several very basic steps. First, write down every event related to the development of the formula. Keep a logbook with the data, dates and details of your work. As you finalize your development work memorialize all of the steps essential to delivering the finished product you wish to keep secret in a recipe or summary document. Then store in a very secure place (a safety deposit box, or safe) all of the work product and the recipe or formula.

The Trade Secret gains incredible asset value when your product becomes a market success. Selling a business built around a fully protected Trade Secret exponentially increases the value of the company. Coca-Cola, Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines, Oil of Olay, Schlitz, Dom Perignon, Ben and Jerry's and Estee Lauder's Youth Dew are only a few examples of famous brands built around a Trade Secret.

A Trademark is important in developing brand awareness for a product. Use a Patent Attorney when approaching the highly specialized area of seeking Trademark protection. I have never seen an entrepreneur successfully navigate the very complex workings of the USPTO. I HAVE seen many attempts to handle the process, all resulting in complete failure.

The content of a Trademark can include a customized, identifying icon, stylized brand name and a branding statement. Nike uses the famous slash (icon) the Company's name (recognizable stylized font) and "Just Do It!" (branding statement). Include all of the elements that the public will recognize in your Trademark application.

Look around at local, regional, national and international companies and brands that you see every day. Pat's Cheese Steaks in Philadelphia is a local business that has gained great fame and brand recognition and protects their brand with a trademark. It is a destination for visitors to Philly. Chanel, the French haute couture brand, is internationally revered and the classic "C" that adorns every unit of Chanel product is one of the most recognized brand icons in the world. Truly Nolen, the national pest removal service, trademarks the mouse ears seen on every piece of sales collateral, advertisement and service vehicle the Company uses.

Owning a Trademark confers an obligation to police and protect the assigned mark. The inclusion of (TM) on every unit of product is essential. Again, consult an attorney. Trademarks can inadvertently become vacated and lost.

Copyrights are utilized to protect intellectual property. Movie content, poetry, music, books and plays are copyrighted. We have worked with clients on a number of video and board games. We always copyright the rules and/or the play features of the game.

Recently, Dan Brown, the writer of the wildly successful book the "The Da Vinci Code", was suited for plagiarism by the British authors of a book about the search for the Holy Grail. The search for the Holy Grail is central to the plot of the "The Da Vinci Code". There are full library shelves devoted to the search for the mystical Holy Grail. And yet, during the run-up to the movie release of "The Da Vinci Code" a legal action involving this intellectual property was commenced. Brown and his publisher vigorously defended their rights under their Copyright protection. They won full vindication from the court.

Producers of intellectual content properties (movie studios, record labels, book publishers) are very hesitant to accept unsolicited proposals for review. "The Da Vinci Code" saga is the reason. Legal action is rife in the area of intellectual property. We all remember things that we saw, heard or experienced from the distant, but dim past. Regurgitating a variation of that experience may find its way to the written page. Voila, was this material plagiarized?

Mattel and Hasbro will not review ANY outside toy submissions. Is it not coincidental that there has not been a breakthrough toy introduction in years from Hasbro or Mattel? This is one of the unfortunate byproducts of a litigious society, the limits placed on needed innovations. Protect your intellectual property with a Copyright.

I recommend to my clients, before spending a dime on a patent attorney, that they perform a cursory search at the USPTO.Gov web-site by providing all obvious key words applicable to their invention. If a number of patented products come up, and they are spot-on their idea, the item might not be a candidate for a filing. If the field seems open and clean, then I advise hiring the patent attorney to conduct a professional, thorough search. The in-depth search will confirm the potential for successfully obtaining patent protection.

Patents are the preferred style of protection for most inventors and entrepreneurs. Patents (utility) are very powerful agents of defense against predators, thieves and knock off artists. Not to be a boor, but, again, utilize the services of a patent attorney. I am always amazed and amused at how many people think they can successfully write, provide highly specific 3-D CAD art, file, handle USPTO objections and move the patent through the labyrinth of a Federal Government bureaucracy. Go Figure! They waste time and money, and usually negate any opportunity to have a re-filed patent successfully obtain a patent number.

The Provisional Patent filing is basically a letter that is placed on file with the USPTO. The Provisional filing advises the USPTO of the description of the product you are attempting to develop. The letter has a one-year life cycle and must be extended with a formal patent filing (Utility or Design) or the product is vacated forever.

We utilize the Provisional Patent as a fully legal way to state that a product in early stage development is Patent Pending. This filing is also very inexpensive relative to a design or utility patent. A Provisional Patent filing also enables the entrepreneur to have a one year time window to test and gauge market response to the invention. If reaction is positive, then it reinforces the necessity of continuing to devote assets to further development of the opportunity.

The Design Patent simply covers art features noted in the application. This is the weakest form of patent protection. A competitor only needs to change a design element, cosmetic feature or add an artisan variant to overcome a Design Patent. However, for products that have real commercial potential, but can not overcome prior, existing product art to obtain a Utility Patent, the Design Patent offers one potentially important benefit: the option to keep a product suspended in ongoing Patent Pending status.

We have done this on a number of occasions. A simple amendment to the initial filing means that a bureaucrat at the USPTO must find the file, pick it up, insert the amended filing detail and re-log the filing. As a result the filing goes to the back of the line and we gain months more Patent Pending protection.

Why go through all of this? When a product is in Patent pending mode it has ultimate protection. When a patent number is issued the clock starts ticking on the effective life of protection and details of the novelty of the patented product become public knowledge. Your product is obviated. It can be amazingly simple for the less than scrupulous knock off artist to engineer around your inventions unique features and benefits.

By keeping a product in Patent pending limbo we keep the features shrouded from any public awareness. This often leads to a first to market advantage and competition is only aware that there is a Patent pending. The added time that the product obtains, to build and extend sales traction, and begin the branding process is exponentially more valuable than the legal fees required to keep adding elementary addenda to the Design filing. You want to be first to market, and have as much time as possible to stand-alone in a market.

The Utility Patent is exceedingly valuable, both as a protective shield against competition and as a business asset. The invention that receives a Utility Patent number from the USPTO is potentially of interest to licensees, partners, investors and venture capital. Most patented products (Utility), however, never make it to market. We often see inventions that are novel, and thus patent possible, but not commercial, or needed, or beneficial. We all know a mad scientist or two, with endless designs, inventions and patents, none of which are ever going to be a market success.

The Utility Patent protects the novel features and benefits that the application describes in great detail. The patent attorney will narrate the unique aspects of your invention. They will also mention other patents near your space but painstakingly note the differences inherent to your invention. In addition, a great deal of effort will be devoted to creating 3-D Computer Assisted Design art that portrays your product from every possible angle and graphically depicts the uniqueness of your product.

Utility Patent filings rarely sail though the USPTO without being challenged. A competent patent attorney often anticipates the weakness in a filing and has a sheath of retorts ready to address the examiners concerns and questions. This re-directs the file back into the bureaucracy at USPTO. I tell my clients that they can expect up to an 18-month wait before receiving notice of the USPTO decision. However, on several complex filings, I have seen the process take up to six years.

Believe me, it is worth the work, the wait and the investment if a successful outcome from the USPTO is achieved. A Utility Patent conveys gravitas. The invention has stood up to the most stringent scrutiny and been accorded the most highly desired verdict: this invention has import.

Geoff Ficke has been a serial entrepreneur for almost 50 years. As a small boy, earning his spending money doing odd jobs in the neighborhood, he learned the value of selling himself, offering service and value for money.

After putting himself through the University of Kentucky (B.A. Broadcast Journalism, 1969) and serving in the United States Marine Corp, Mr. Ficke commenced a career in the cosmetic industry. After rising to National Sales Manager for Vidal Sassoon Hair Care at age 28, he then launched a number of ventures, including Rubigo Cosmetics, Parfums Pierre Wulff Paris, Le Bain Couture and Fashion Fragrance.

Mr. Ficke and his consulting firm, Duquesa Marketing, Inc. (http://www.duquesamarketing.com) has assisted businesses large and small, domestic and international, entrepreneurs, inventors and students in new product development, capital formation, licensing, marketing, sales and business plans and successful implementation of his customized strategies. He is a Senior Fellow at the Page Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Business School, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Some Tax Rules For Wholesale Trade

Wholesale trade is an intermediate stage in the trade. The wholesale trader neither produces goods nor exercises retail trade. However, considering the form of product distribution to consumers, even a producer can be considered as a wholesaler for the goods he produces. Usually a wholesaler sells products to retailers, whereas distributors are included in the category of wholesalers and are likely to sell to retailers.

Importers of trade product ready for consumption exercise the activity by ensuring goods from abroad in order to meet special consumptions orders which tend towards rapid consumption. This rapid consumption can be explained by the very nature of the product, which is an authorized right (sale of Peugeot, BOSCH tools, Legea sports materials for the Albanian national soccer team etc.), or in the case of franchise (the right to use the trade mark/name, e.g. McDonald). In other words, they are wholesalers or intermediaries. Other business activities involve producers, retailers and commercial users, even private individuals who can import goods. However, a commercial importer exercises this as the main activity.

There are two main categories of import traders

- Buyers of raw materials for domestic sale in the industry section

- Buyers of commercial goods can be combined with purchase of domestic goods for re-sale purposes

Commercial import can also be run from a small office. Imported products are stored in a separate storehouse or often submitted to the client directly from the port, airport, or land border points. A commercial importer should keep sufficient data to know:

- What kind of products is stored?

- Which are the incoming and outgoing movements of product in the storehouse?

- What is the situation in the cash registry account, i.e. how much his clients owe him?

The general costs of this business are relatively low as compared to the value of traded goods. However, these costs include:

- Office administration and management cost;

- Storehouse maintenance (including insurances);

- Re-packaging and labeling cost;

Submission of a product to the client can be organized by the importer and even if this is added to the price, it represents a business cost. Although an importer can perform additional services such as re-packaging, labeling in Albanian language, etc., this does not change the fact that a commercial importer buys imported goods for re-sale in the domestic market, excluding transit goods or goods re-sold in other countries. Form a tax audit perspective, the only difference between the wholesaler and importer is the nature of purchase documents. Audit procedures are similar in all other respects.

Wholesale trade can be run and managed by a single individual, or by several individuals exercising their trade activity i question. They are mainly agents, although not formal agents, and not individuals which have contact with the goods in the market. Their circulation is the total of everything as is the case with every other wholesaler.

There are relations between purchases and sales, which, in the case of wholesale purchases or importers, have to do with the mark-up price on goods. The trader can refer to this as a threshold which helps him to draw the line between his profit and the sale price. Manuals (Difference between price and cost) deals with this phenomenon in more details.

During the interview, the auditor should know what trader's policy apples to common sale levels. Not having a very value, eggs or other large quantity products will have a smaller price increase than another product (car) which sells less. Delicate products will have a high inventory flow, whereas other goods (cars) will have a slower flow. That wholesaler would not keep a car in store for as long as a retailer would. The more we understand how various activities function, the easier it will be for us to detect the mistakes that have been made and the ways that are used for hiding them.

As mentioned above, sales will either be ordered in advance for certain clients to be re-sold at a previously agreed upon price or they will be casual, which means that goods will be purchased without any previously thought client, although it is very likely that the wholesaler or importer can have regular buyers. In such case, the goods are sold in the open and competing market at a better price than the one offered by the importer.

In the case of previously ordered sales there can be documents on the price agreed upon with the buyer, through contracts prepared between parties for various purposes.

When they do not have definite clients, although there can be data on the eventual sale price, this price should not be previously determined. Of course, it is possible for an importer or wholesaler to sell a certain shipment for a smaller profit margin in order to do away with the slowly flowing inventory, thus increasing their capital for further trade. Rarely, it can happen that, for the same reasons, a certain sale can even result in losses.

Nevertheless, continuous sales at small profit margins should be considered very carefully. There are two possibilities: a) the importer or wholesaler is a poor businessman (including his living standard) whose business is on the verge of bankruptcy; b) real sale prices are hidden and in such case we have to do with tax fraud.

Wholesalers use two different sale systems. E.g. a wholesaler selling through his people moving all around has different series for each of the sellers in order to be able to better identify each sale. The total of all sales is the total used for tax purposes.

A wholesaler of liquors, for example, can combine the shipment of his product to the wholesaler plus retailers who get their goods from the wholesaler's storehouses. Each directly employed seller can work on commission or a salary or a combination of both. It is important to exactly determine what happens, since it is possible to determine the sales level from the commissions that have been paid.

It is possible that sale price for retailers, in cases when the buyers themselves ship the goods, is lower than the price for goods when they are sipped to the retailer's premises by the wholesaler's staff. It is important to understand what the structure of the sale price is (analysis of components per unit).

In Albanian Customs taxes and VAT are paid according to a list of reference prices which is administratively considered to be closer to the real declared value. The first argument is that domestic market is protected form by free imports and the second argument is that, as regards VAT, the artificial price increase is avoided.

The bottom prices established for some goods are applied during imports and this is a means to make sure that import taxes, VAT, import excise, etc., be fixed to a competing level in order to protect the domestic market. After the goods have entered the country and start selling in the domestic market, VAT should be calculated and taxed on the quantity of goods that are actually sold.

While it is difficult to generalize, the profit rate should be sufficient to make sure that the majority of importers are able to pay VAT. Since VAT is refundable, this has no significant influence on the profit, except for a small increase of the tax obligation, which in account books is presented as a cost.

Purchases should be registered in the purchase register, possibly a separate diary for the cash account, which registers incoming and outgoing payments. Registrations of sales have to do with operational business costs and those for imported goods. These include invoices for utilities, rent, phone, fax, internet, paper, insurances for offices and storehouses, advertisements, personnel (if any), cleaning, transportation of goods, customs agents for importers, etc. The auditor should also take into account purchases on which no VAT is applied

The trader should register all purchases and sales, not only the VAT ones. It is easier for a trader to hide his sales if the purchases are not identified and evidenced. A check on the stock of purchase invoices can discover, for example, stock of invoices that have not been calculated through the invoice system.

The principal requirement is to issue an invoice for every sale and this should comply with the rules specified in the Minister's Instructions on VAT or Law. As with everyone else, wholesalers should keep sufficient data to meet the requirements of tax authorities on the accuracy of their accounts and declarations prepared for tax purposes.

The owner of a business also has personnel working for him and in certain aspects; his needs are similar to those of the tax authorities: he does not trust others to handle his business without first making some checks in order to make sure that losses from theft are minimum. The owners' requirements are almost similar even in terms of risk elements and for incomes this aspect is treated in more details.

The History of Trade and Using it as a Weapon for Peace

The Flow of Trade is a major consideration of civilizations and cultures working together to insure that they can get what they need. Some areas have special crops, which grow in their regions, which the other regions would like to have. In days of the First colonies in this country, before it was a country trade with the local Indians were vital to them staying alive. Our ancestors traded with the Native Indian tribes to insure the colony had the food and things needed to get through the winter months.

If it were not for the Native Indians in those first winters the Pilgrims would have died, starved and frozen. Civilizations' trading has been written about throughout history and every culture, race, nationality and religion have ancient writings to show for it. It seems as if trade partners is a way to exchange the products and services to improve quality of life and higher standard of living to both sides. It brings with it, possibilities for peace and opens cultural exchange and best of all it makes friends. We can learn a lot from fellow cultures, species and nationalities.

Today trade partners are keeping peace in the world, because you are less likely to attack or want to cause war against a group or country from which you derive products, natural resources, technology, enlightenment, services, assistance or other form of trade from. Today most of the peace has been nurtured through trade. Many of our wars have in part been due to trade disputes. For instance the Japanese in WWII part of the reason was due to rubber, oil, steel trade and other resources. Our breaking with England in the revolutionary war was over tea, taxes and other serious issues. Many of our allies in wars were those who were trading partners, for fear of loss of a trading partner. Today we have partial reason for wars over natural resources like Oil.

Today in the news most of our hardships or disputes come from unequal trading partners trying to get a little extra by manipulating currencies. Free trade is a good thing provided the sides trading have what the others need, items they do not wish to produce or cannot produce for the same costs due to regional temperature variations, labor forces, raw materials or cultural norm. Sometimes as many found triangle trading partners worked because one country needed something but the trading partner did not need what the other had extra to sell, but a third partner did and the first partner only had enough to supply her own country. But the first partner needed what the third partner had. Eventually the trading ended up using a unit of trade such as gold, silver, etc. Then eventually gold coins and silver coins and currency came into play.

In Amsterdam a whole new trading hub created with interest, currency, banks, and trade of every good known to man at that time. This was the combination of centuries and millennium of trade and what was learned. Civilization and modern living with amenities and time for recreation, thinking and personal items became possible and thrust the world into a better place of working together. Wars of course did not stop, but rather the shift in thinking began to take shape. Trading partners and allies are generally all part of the strategic thinking of wars or of peace.

Perhaps we might deploy more of the old world thinking of trading partners to the current conflicts which plague mankind. Think about it

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is an online writer in retirement.

How a Temporary Visa Works Under the United States-Jordan Free Trade Agreement

The United States (U.S.) and Jordan launched negotiations for a free trade agreement in 2000. Several reasons explain the U.S. desire to negotiate a free trade agreement with Jordan. The failed WTO Ministerial Conference in 1999 led U.S. trade officials to analyze the possibilities for a free trade agreement that would include certain provisions that are resisted at the multilateral trading level. Moreover, the U.S. and Jordan had already signed a trade and investment framework in 1999, which is usually a precursor for a FTA.

The US-JO FTA includes a preamble, nineteen articles, three annexes, joint statements, memorandums of understanding, and side letters. In addition to the interesting articles on labor and environment, the US-JO FTA provides the opportunity for Jordanian nationals to come to the U.S. to make investments and participate in trade. Under certain conditions, Jordanian nationals can enter the U.S. to render professional services.

The US-JO FTA permits entry of nationals of one party in the territory of the other. From the outset, it is necessary to distinguish between migration and the ability of Jordanians to enter into the U.S. to make investments and participate in trade. Jordanian nationals are not allowed permanent resident status, but are only given the opportunity to acquire a visa on a temporary basis or "non-immigrant" status. This status requires that the visa beneficiary return to Jordan after his temporary stay expires.

The US-JO FTA allows nationals of Jordan to enter into the U.S. to carry solely "substantial trade", including trade in services and technology. The yardstick in the FTA is "substantial trade". Article 8 does not specify what constitutes "substantial trade". For example, should a Jordanian trader be major exporter to the U.S to be eligible for entry? Or the U.S is obliged, subject to its laws on entry, to allow Jordan's traders entry into its territory for attending a trade fair or partnering with U.S firms.

In effect, the language of article 8 of the US-JO FTA is drawn from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), now known as Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service within the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S Department of State regulations. The Department of State regulations define a treaty trader as an alien, classifiable as a nonimmigrant treaty trader (E-1), who will be in the U.S solely to carry on trade of a "substantial nature" either on the alien's behalf or as an employee of a foreign person or organization engaged in trade, "principally" between the U.S and the foreign state of which the alien is a national. This language is identical to the language of article 8.1 of the US-JO FTA. The regulations of the Department of State reads that consideration being given to any conditions in the country of which the alien is a national which may affect the alien's ability to carry on such substantial trade. Moreover, the alien must prove that he intends to depart the U.S after the termination of E-1 status.

Although US-JO FTA does not define the term "substantial trade", the Department of State regulations define it as the quantum of trade "sufficient" to ensure a continuous flow of trade items between the U.S and the treaty country. Continuous flow contemplates numerous exchanges over time rather than a single transaction, regardless of the monetary value. The U.S regulation considers monetary value as an important factor. However, greater weight is given to more numerous exchanges of larger value. Therefore, Department of State regulations do not specify an exact monetary value of substantial trade, for example $100,000, as a benchmark that would qualify a Jordanian trader as eligible for E-1 visa.

Rather, Department of State regulations leave it to the U.S Consular Office in Jordan the flexibility of determining "substantial trade" that would qualify Jordanian nationals of for E-1 visa. This conclusion is supported by the fact that the regulations of the Department of State itself read that consideration being given to any conditions in the country of which the alien is a national which may affect the alien's ability to carry on such substantial trade. In other words, the U.S Consular Office will have to take into account the conditions prevalent in Jordan when evaluating a petition for E-1 visa. Thus, the term "substantial trade will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Additionally, the term "trade" is not defined in the US-JO FTA. The negotiators of the US-JO FTA perhaps wanted to give a non-exhaustive list of trade activities that could be conducted in the territory of the other party such as trade in services and technology. Other items of trade may include trade in monies, international banking, insurance, transportation, tourism, communications, and some news gathering activities.

The US-JO FTA also allows nationals of one party to enter into the territory of the other party to establish, develop, administer, or advise on the operation of an "investment". However, investment is qualified by the requirement that the nationals or the company that employs them "have committed" or "in the process of committing" a substantial amount of capital or other resources. In other words, the language of "have committed" or "in the process of committing" seems to require a significant amount of upfront investment such as transferring money before a national of Jordan can obtain the visa. The purpose such language could be interpreted so as to prevent maneuvering and fraud. Again, in the investment provision of the FTA, the yardstick is commitment to a "substantial amount of capital or other resources". The Department of State regulations define a treaty investor as an alien, classifiable as a nonimmigrant treaty investor (E-2), that has invested or is actively in the process of investing a substantial amount of capital, as distinct from a relatively small amount of capital solely for the purpose of earning a living, and he seeks entry solely to develop and direct the enterprise. Moreover, the treaty investor must intend to depart from the U.S upon the termination of E-2 status. Thus, subparagraph 8.2 of the US-JO FTA is drawn directly from the U.S regulations.

The US-JO FTA is silent as to the definition of "investment" and "substantial amount of capital". However, the Department of State regulation defines investment as the treaty investor's placing of capital, including funds and other assets, at risk in the commercial sense with the objective of generating a profit. The treaty investor must be "in possession" of and "have control" over the capital invested or being invested. Furthermore, the U.S regulations require that capital in the process of being invested must be "irrevocably" committed to the enterprise. In other words, the treaty investor must commit capital in an unalterable way or commit beyond recall.

The treaty investor must have the burden of establishing such irrevocable commitment given to the particular circumstances of each case. Moreover, according to the U.S regulations, the treaty investor may use any legal mechanism available that would not only irrevocably commit funds to the enterprise but also extend some personal liability protection to the treaty investor. Even if all other conditions are met, the investment must not be passive or virtual but rather a "real" and "active" commercial or entrepreneurial undertaking, producing some service or commodity for profit and must meet applicable legal requirements for doing business in the particular jurisdiction in the U.S. This language intends to prevent visa fraud.

As to the definition of "substantial amount of capital", article 8 of the US-JO FTA is silent on this matter. However, the U.S Department of State regulations define "substantial capital" as the amount that is 1) substantial in the proportional sense for example in relationship to the total cost of either purchasing an established enterprise or creating the type of enterprise under consideration; 2) sufficient to ensure the treaty investor's financial commitment to the successful operation of the enterprise; and 3) of a magnitude to support the likelihood that the treaty investor will successfully develop and direct the enterprise. The U.S regulations define whether an amount of capital is substantial in the proportionality sense in terms of an inverted sliding scale. For example, the lower the total cost of the enterprise, the higher, proportionately, the investment must be to meet the criteria. Moreover, the Department of State regulations require that projected future capacity of the enterprise should generally be realizable within five years from the date the alien commences normal business activity of the enterprise. In summation, U.S regulations do not specify an exact amount of capital that would serve as a yardstick to evaluate whether an investment could qualify its holder for E-2 visa. Rather, the regulations leave "substantial amount of capital" test to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Article 8.2 of the US-JO FTA allows nationals of either party to enter the territory of the other party to "establish", "develop", "administer", or "advise" of an investment. These four terms are not defined in article 8 of the US-JO FTA. Again, U.S Department of State regulations define some of these terms. For example, the regulations define "develop and direct" as what the business or individual treaty investor does or will develop and direct the enterprise by controlling the enterprise through ownership of at least 50% of the business, by possessing operational control through a managerial position or other corporate device, or by other means. Therefore, an investor under the US-JO FTA must play a key role in the investment whether through establishment, development, administration, or advice in order to be eligible for E-2 visa.

For the purpose of article 8, the U.S rendered nationals of Jordan as eligible for treaty trader (E-1) and treaty investor (E-2) visas. This article seems to imply as if the U.S gave Jordanian nationals special or privileged visa treatment. However, Jordanian national individuals will not be exempt from acquiring a visa for entry into the U.S. Rather, Jordanian national must appear at the U.S. embassy or consulate in Jordan and be inspected by a consular officer and acquire a visa stamp before entering the U.S. for inspection by an immigration officer.

Two-way trade between the U.S. and Jordan is up substantially since the free trade agreement between the two countries took effect, but a provision enabling temporary entry of Jordanian nationals into the U.S. has seen little use. For the period 2002-2010, there were no trader or investor visas issued to Jordanian nationals under the visa provisions of the FTA. This state of affair could be attributed to lack of awareness or understanding on the part of Jordan's nationals as to E category of visas, the difficulty traders or investors face in meeting the thresholds of "substantial trade" or "substantial amount of capital" for investment, or difficulty of proving intent to return back to Jordan. Not any trader or investor can meet these thresholds. The onerous of article 8 of the FTA might explain the nonexistent of visas under the FTA so far even though U.S regulations allow for consideration being given to any conditions in the country of which the alien is a national which may affect the alien's ability to carry on such substantial trade.

On the other hand, one year after NAFTA came into force, 220 accountants from the U.S, but none from Mexico, entered Canada independently, and 62 U.S accountants entered as intra-company employees, 965 engineers from the U.S and 7 from Mexico, and 224 American intra-company engineers and 3 Mexicans were issued entry documents, 34 lawyers independently and 9 as intra-company employees came from the U.S.

Although national security, outsourcing, and immigration concerns are issues that need to be addressed, the U.S. must rationally weigh the costs and benefits of limiting movement of individuals. Increasing temporary worker mobility, and for that matter trade in general, has greater potential to benefit trade development, mutual understanding, peace, and tolerance. Failure to consider movement for individuals as a vital component of economic infrastructure and foreign policy will seriously affect economic growth and stability.

US-Jordan FTA Cross-Border Provision of Services

Historically, most trade agreements focused on reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers on goods as they cross international borders. However, the services sector now accounts for about seventy five percent of employment activity in industrialized countries like the U.S. Therefore, current trade agreements deal with trade in services.

While WTO achieved major progress in liberalizing the trade in goods, it later has begun to liberalize trade in services. The WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) recognizes several modes of supplying services with "Mode 4" addressing the temporary cross-border movement of business and professional workers. The US-JO FTA goes beyond the primary focus on goods and it deals with a new frontier, liberalization of trade in services. Such liberalization is important for freer flow of labor over national borders.

The US-JO FTA sets out several service obligations. The FTA requires each party to accord to service providers of another party treatment no less favorable than that it accords, in like circumstances, to its own service providers. The idea of this provision is nondiscrimination whereby Jordan must treat service provider from the U.S. the same way that Jordan treats service provider from Jordan. The other key US-JO FTA obligation is the most-favored nation obligation whereby each party is to accord to service providers of another party treatment no less favorable than that it accords, in like circumstances, to service providers of any other Party or of a non-Party. For example, if Jordan treats a service provider from Iraq more favorably than it treats a service provider from the U.S., the treatment provided to the Iraqi must be accorded to an American service provider.

The US-JO FTA created obligations specifically targeting professional services. Professional services, unlike most service providers who wish to provide their services in the U.S., they need permission to enter the jurisdiction from the U.S. immigration authorities. Movement of natural persons, professionals, is of particular importance to Jordan. However, temporary entry into the U.S. is limited to executives, managers, or specialists of a Jordanian company that has a physical presence in the U.S. in the form of branch, subsidiary, or affiliate. Such entry is limited to three years with a one-time two years extension.

The U.S. commitment, while covering the intra-corporate movement of senior personnel, does not extend to other categories of workers. Low-skilled workers seeking entry into the U.S. will not be admitted under the US-JO FTA. Both the U.S. and Jordan would benefit more from relaxed restrictions on unskilled labor rather than on skilled labor. Jordan has primarily unskilled labor to supply while the U.S. has primarily unskilled jobs to offer.

Under the US-JO FTA, a corporate employee cannot move to the U.S. unless his company already maintains commercial presence in the U.S. In other words, the FTA requires a Jordanian service providers to establish or maintain a representative office or any form of enterprise in the U.S. as a condition for the cross-border provision of a service. The "commercial presence" requirement prohibited if not stopped stop temporary movement of workers between the U.S. and Jordan. The US-JO FTA should have prohibited the parties from imposing local presence requirements on cross-border service providers.

The U.S. opted for skilled workers and commercial presence in the FTA perhaps out of concerns over education, certification, professional accreditation, and licensing in Jordan. For example, an engineer who wants to build a bridge in the U.S. is going to need two pieces of paper; in addition to a temporary visa permit, they also need to be licensed by the U.S. professional regulatory body. In order to increase worker mobility, the U.S. and Jordan could have concluded mutual recognition agreements and harmonized professional standards in certain sectors. Additionally, the U.S. and Jordan could have placed more emphasis on education and experience rather on passing exams or interviews. For example, a Jordanian engineer can obtain a temporary license to practice in the U.S. if he has a minimum of twelve years of acceptable engineering experience.

Labor Mobility in the North American Free Trade Agreement

Compared with the modest language of article 8 of the US-JO FTA, NAFTA dedicates a whole chapter-chapter 16- dedicated to temporary entry for business persons. The purpose of chapter 16 of NAFTA is to facilitate temporary entry of business persons. NAFTA parties endeavor to develop and adopt common criteria and definitions for the implementation of chapter 16. Moreover, each NAFTA party is committed to furnish the other parties with materials that enable them to be acquainted with chapter 16. To facilitate the movement of persons across the borders, each NAFTA party is committed to provide explanatory material regarding the requirements for temporary entry under chapter 16 in such a manner as will enable business persons of the other parties to become acquainted with them. On the other hand, the US-JO FTA is absent of such a commitment. Hence, Jordanian nationals might not be able to determine the meanings of critical terms such as "substantial trade" or "investment".

According to NAFTA, any dispute regarding refusal to grant temporary entry of business persons is subject to the dispute settlement mechanism. Chapter 16 of NAFTA created four categories of business persons who are citizens of a member country to be granted temporary entry. These four basic categories are: business visitors, traders and investors, intra-company transferees, and professionals. Business visitors who are engaged in international business activities may enter a NAFTA member country in B-1 status for the purposes of conducting research and design (technical, scientific, and statistical researchers), growth, manufacture and production (harvester owner supervising a harvesting crew, purchasing and production management personnel), marketing (marketing researchers and analysts, trade fair and promotional personnel).

NAFTA also provides E-1 and E-2 visas for traders and investors. The conditions for granting visa under this category are the same as visas granted under article 8 of the US-JO FTA. However, NAFTA mandates that no NAFTA party may impose or maintain any numerical restriction relating to temporary entry for traders or investors. In contrast, the U.S may impose numerical limits on the number of visa traders or investors under the US-JO FTA.

Another distinction between NAFTA and the US-JO FTA under the treaty trader and investor provisions is that a Canadian or Mexican business person may be denied E visa if there is a labor dispute in the Canadian or Mexican's occupational classification in progress where the Canadian or Mexican will be employed and their entry may adversely affect the settlement of the labor dispute or the employment of any person involved in the dispute. In other words, the requirements for E-1 and E-2 visas under NAFTA are the same as they in the US-JO FTA, with the exception that entry may be denied when it would adversely affect the settlement of a labor dispute in the US. This provision is only triggered when the Department of Labor certifies the existence of a strike or work stoppage, and does not apply to E visa holders already in the US. This language is absent from the US-JO FTA which means in effect that even if there is a labor dispute in the Jordanian's occupational classification, still a Jordanian national can enter the U.S as trader or investor.

The third category of NAFTA visas is L-1 visa for a business person employed by an enterprise who seeks to render services to that enterprise or a subsidiary or affiliate thereof, in a capacity that is managerial, executive or involves specialized knowledge. In this category, no NAFTA party may impose numerical restrictions on temporary entry.

The last category of visas under NAFTA is professional visa, TN category. This kind of visa is unique for NAFTA nationals and is not available for other nationals. The US-JO FTA does not contain such kind of visa system for professionals. Under NAFTA, certain categories of professionals who meet minimum educational requirements, or posses designated credentials or licenses and experience, and who seek to engage in professional occupations in a NAFTA member country, may be admitted for example into the U.S for up to one year. Appendix 1603.D.1 of NAFTA lists 63 professions whom its holder may be eligible for TN visa after meeting the minimum requirements. For example, an economist has to posses baccalaureate or Licenciatura degree, a lawyer has to posses LL.B (for example Canadian common law degree), J.D., LL.L., B.C.L. (for example Canadian civil law degree) or Licenciatura degree (Mexican law degree consists of studying for five years) or membership in a state/provincial bar, and a university teacher has to posses baccalaureate or Licenciatura degree.

The U.S could have incorporated a provision similar to the TN category of NAFTA in the US-JO FTA regarding professional visas. Professional visa system could have given the opportunity for Jordanian professionals to acquire contacts and experience that would be translated into increase of trade between the U.S and Jordan. However, issues of immigration and recognition of credentials could have prevented the incorporation of such a provision in the US-JO FTA. Probably, the U.S was concerned that Jordan may dump its citizens in the U.S. and they would not return to their native Jordan. Although, placing a cap on the number of TN visas issued annually could have minimized this concern on the part of the U.S.

Conclusion

Freer trade applies not only for trade in goods but also extends to include other factors of production such as labor and capital. Production is not just a function of capital and natural resources, but also of labor. Little attention has been paid to liberalizing the movement of persons who trade in these goods and services. In the formulation of trade agreement, the flow of goods between the member countries should be discussed in connection with the flow of people.

The US-JO FTA is designed to permit temporary entry, without intent to establish permanent residence, of traders and key business personnel. Despite that, the FTA does not provide "truly temporary entry". As of this date, Jordanian nationals are not able to benefit from the visa commitments of the US-JO FTA. The US-JO FTA permits entry for narrowly defined investment-related and trade-related purposes. The U.S made the entry of traders and investors from Jordan difficult. Jordanian businesspeople face difficulties in meeting the threshold of "substantial trade", "investment", and "substantial amount of capital". Moreover, the U.S. couples the movement of key business personnel with local presence requirements. Only Jordanian nationals with money and extensive professional skills can gain entry to the U.S. The US-JO FTA prioritized workers with advanced educational training and capital to invest. The US-JO FTA prioritizes the cross-border movement of corporate executives, researchers, and professionals with advanced degrees.

The US-JO FTA, among other US-Arab free trade agreement, is a trade agreement concerned with the movement of goods and services but not with the movement of persons. The U.S. has chosen to actively pursue a free trade agenda in the Middle East while simultaneously restricting inbound temporary labor mobility. Jordanian nationals are human beings and they have a baccalaureate degree. They are part of the free trade agreement. There can be no free trade without people to facilitate it. The current temporary visa provisions significantly increase the cost of doing business and prevent the effective use of a company's human resources. The issue of trade and temporary visas should be of immediate relevance to negotiators when crafting the broader US-Middle East FTA. Unless the inter-relationship between trade and temporary visas is properly understood, trade liberalization may be easily undone.

International Trade NewsWeek

News reports this week contained good and bad news for certain people in the technology, business, economy, trade, and entertainment industries or sectors around the world.

First, the technology industry is reported to be booming.

A proof of the flourishing technology industry is the 3GSM World Congress held in Barcelona and participated by three biggest cellular phone technology firms in the world - Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola. These companies presented their latest products in the fair, most of them using the latest 3G technology. Motorola released ROKR. Nokia revealed plans to release Nokia 6136. Sony-Ericsson disclosed the release of the K610 phone and music player. Moreover, Sony Ericsson and Nokia will have a joint venture in developing cellular phone technology-mobile television.

However, some consumers do not avail of this latest technology because they want to avail of discounts and bargains because of offered to last year's technology. But this won't be the case this year as inventories are kept lean because of the new ability of retailers and manufacturers to share sales and inventory information with each other. Yet, they can still get the best price if the consumer to determined to put some effort and acquire knowledge about the technology.

Another event that took place is the twentieth edition of the Olympic Winter Games last weekend in Turin, Italy, which brought in a host of businesses. Companies collaborated with the local government of Turin under the supervision of the International Olympic committee. They hope to have an international publicity by advertising its product in the uniform of athletes participating the sports event, flooding television airtime with their commercials, and plastering the venue with advertisements.

This week, companies have made announcements of either joint ventures, downsizing or takeovers.

Volkswagen announced over the weekend that there will be 20,000 jobs will be cut from 2006 to 2008. They said they want to improve their market standing as they face fierce competition and declining markets. Even though the job cuts dismayed Volkswagen employees, investors were pleased with that decision as the companies shares rose to almost a 3-year high. The company also projects to enjoy a 61 percent increase in profit.

Toy Company Lego Group and Star Wars franchise owner Lucasfilms Ltd. has agreed to continue their partnership until 2011. In 1999, Lego received the rights to create Star Wars toy products. During the release the "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace", Lego earned more than $400 million.

Under new ownership, MySpace ties up with SK Telecom and Earthlink, Inc. and Hello LLC will launch this service after a few months. The company will offer its subscribers new service of mobile phone access to MySpace. Together with the launch of MySpace's mobile phone access service, they will also release 'Hero' and 'Kickflip' phones that will be manufactured by Pantech and VK.

Nokia and Sanyo Electric Co. will have a joint venture in order to develop new mobile phone with CDMA chips and 3G technology. Nokia aims to capture the American and Japanese market, while Sanyo hopes to be relieved of its financial debt.

Arcelor plans to increase its dividend by 85% in order to prevent their rival, Mittal Steel's hostile takeover. Earlier, Arcelor rejected Mittal's bid, and has employed investment banks to formulate a defense plan. However, if the takeover happened, Mittal will scrutinized by the European Commission.

However, a company has been entangled in certain issues, but has resolved their predicaments already. Google created a Chinese version of their search engine and will comply with the Communist Party's regulations. With 30,000 Internet censors commissioned by the government, China aims to deter its citizens from gaining access to websites that feature or discuss issues that are sensitive to Chinese policy. Although it baffled industry insiders, Google's compliance was in line with their aim to capture the lucrative Chinese market, home to more than a hundred million Internet users.

Weather also affected businesses this week.

On Sunday morning, residents of Northeastern United States including New York experienced a snowstorm which caused thousands of dollars worth of property insurance and led businesses to halt on Monday. Last September, Hurricane Katrina left insurance companies headaches as its havoc caused more than $5 billion worth of structural damages.

Meanwhile, residents and authorities in New Orleans, Louisiana is preparing for the Mardi Gras, the first one to be held after Hurricane Katrina left many people dead and depressed in August of last year. Although the city's infrastructures are still under repair, the event is expected to revive the city by making their tourism industry active again.

US trade deficit also widened in 2005 because US developed a strong consumption for foreign-made products and the price of oil hit a record high of almost $71 per barrel more than five months ago. US is also threatened by China's booming economy as Chinese products have a trading edge due to lower pricing. The White House is also alarmed with their increasing deficit.

On the other hand, Europe is doing better as their market shares closed upward on Monday. Banks shares in Italy rose, as there have been speculations of consolidation between top Italian banks and foreign banks, such as French bank Banque National de Paris Paribas and Spanish Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.

International organizations are also facing some tough issues.

The World Trading Organization has accused the European Union of violating rules by halting the importation of genetically modified foods since 1998. United States, Argentina and Canada, three of the biggest agricultural product exporters in the world, filed a complaint against the EU ban. However, social cause groups, like Friends of the Earth, are criticizing WTO's recent move. They claim that Austria, Germany, France, Greece, Luxembourg and Italy, which implement the ban, have sovereignty to make decisions for themselves.

The Group of 8 Nations, the most exclusive club of developed countries in the economic and political stage, had a meeting over the weekend for the first time in St. Peterburg, Russia to discuss the impact of rising oil prices to world economic development and energy supplies. Russia also assured G8 that they maintain the level of their oil and gas exports this year, despite its cutting off gas supply to Ukraine and the entire Eastern Europe. G8 discussions also included talks on new leadership of Palestine, which the US believes to be a terrorist faction, and the threat of bird flu in Asia and Europe.

The price of oil rises again on Monday after Iran, the fourth largest exporter of oil in the world, continued its uranium enrichment activity and ended their cooperation with the United Nation's International Atomic Energy Agency. Reports state that Iran is using uranium in creating nuclear weapons and it has intermittent cooperation with international inspectors. The oil price situation is even worsened by Nigeria's protests against foreign oil companies and kidnapping of Royal Dutch Shell employees.

Iran, the fourth largest exporter of oil in the world, announced that they ended their cooperation with the United Nation's International Atomic Energy Agency and they will continue its uranium enrichment activity. Because of this, oil prices rose again on Monday. Reports state that Iran is using uranium in creating nuclear weapons and it has intermittent cooperation with international inspectors. The oil price situation is even worsened by Nigeria's protests against foreign oil companies and kidnapping of Royal Dutch Shell employees.

China is also reported to be more active in the world trade scene.

China has purchased oil from African nations, such as Algeria, Angola, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria and Sudan for their growing need for energy to sustain their flourishing industries. However, some countries, like the United States, are threatened because they also have oil interest in this continent.

China and Australia recently met in Canberra in January to talk about the possible export of uranium found in Australia to China, and to ensure that the uranium supplies would not be used for constructing nuclear weapons. However, environmentalists and majority of Australian citizens warn of its destructive consequences, such as greenhouse gases emission and possible future resistance of Chinese nuclear industry to international scrutiny.

On the lighter side of things, the entertainment industry is continuing to do well.

The movie industry in New Zealand boomed because of the box-office success of films shot or partially shot in the country, which includes the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", and Peter Jackson's "King Kong". Because of this, funds for producing local films are growing. Hollywood now opted to shoot films in this country because of its breathtaking scenery and its offer of special premiums that will minimize the film studio's production cost.

In 2004, Forbes magazine released their list of 100 Richest Celebrities. They proclaimed Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John and Madonna as wealthiest persons in tinseltown. It also signifies that the music and film industries are flourishing. The Rolling Stones, U2, Greenday, The Eagles, Dave Matthews band, Kenny Chesney, Celine Dion and 50 Cent are also included in the list.

By Vasily Klimko http://TOBOC.com - leading importers exporters directory

What Is The Purpose Of Fair Trade?

Fair trade exists to give a chance to small farmers, artisans and workers around the world, so they can also benefit from globalization. This philosophy provides a platform that enables these disadvantaged people to rise above poverty and improve their standard of living.

Beyond fair wages

Fair trade is much more than just setting a fair price of goods or creating a safe & healthy working environment. Here are some of the benefits that fair trade offers producers to help them develop their communities:

•Advanced payments or access to credit: wholesalers or retailers who work directly with artisans try to pay them in advance for the products if required. This makes sure the artisans or farmers have money to buy the resources they need to make products or grow crops, and at the same time feed their children, invest in their communities, etc. Small artisans and farmers are also referred to micro-credit companies who will help them get started as well. Either way, it's a little push that gets artisans and farmers on their feet so they can start making a living.

•Education: many retailers and wholesalers educate the producers they work with. They give them market and fashion information so that artisans can create functional, trendy goods that will sell in international market. They can also educate them so that farmers and artisans improve their business practices or become more efficient. They help in capacity building & self sustainability of the producers.

•Development projects: artisans are given help so that they can develop their communities. SETU -The Bridge To Artisans, for example, is trying to provide health insurance to the artisans, install solar panels for electricity in 2 villages, provide aid to underprivileged children & children with special needs and giving scholarships for vocational education, among other projects. These projects give the artisans or farmers a basic level of development that allows them to lead a better lifestyle, and facilitates the arrival of aid and trade.

•Opportunities for women and minorities: Fair Trade aims to empower everyone without discrimination. This creates an environment where women and minorities can participate in this alternative trading system. This also ensures equal employment opportunities for the disadvantaged & underprivileged people. They then become self-sustainable, decision makers in their communities. This is especially important in the crafts industry, where 70% of producers are women (according to the Fair Trade Federation).

Globalization

•Globalization implies that the world is becoming smaller and more interconnected. It is applied to many subjects: the economy, communications, politics, trade, technology, information, ethics, language, ecology, and many others. When it comes to Fair Trade, though, it mainly revolves around politics, trade and the global economy.

Globalization has been very helpful to people of developed nations such as the US, Canada, Western Europe and Japan. However, people in less fortunate countries do not fare as well. While globalization has opened the doors for different countries to communicate, share ideas and engage in trade that should ultimately develop the world, in many situations it has also opened the door to exploitation. Many third world countries do not have the resources to compete equally with developed nations. In cases like these, the powerful corporations in these nations set up a factory, a plantation or a mine in the poor countries under the pretense that they will pay the workers a salary (which is better than no salary), pay taxes, and improve the local economy. Even though it is true that the people in the poor countries want a job and opportunities, the ones offered by multinational corporations are far from ideal. What ends up happening is that people are overworked and are not compensated for all the sacrifices they make (their health, their family, their dignity). There is nothing the disadvantaged workers, farmers or miners can do, because they have no access to information, education, resources, credit, or many of the other privileges that the corporations from the developed world have ready access to.

It is no one's fault that this system started, since people were just following the economic theories they knew. However, we are at a point where we realize that this is an unethical way of doing business. That is why people from both developed and developing nations have created the system of Fair Trade. It aims to empower the artisans, farmers and miners with education, access to credit, and information about the markets and communications tools so they can compete in the globalized economy. In the end, Fair Traders hope to create a system where the artisans and farmers become independent and self-sustainable. That is why Fair Trade exists: to create justice, to empower people, to break the poverty cycle, and ultimately so everyone can produce and buy products that are healthy for the people and the planet.

To be a fair trade product retailer, you can try contacting to a fair trade wholesale supplier.

Concept of Commercial Equality and Trade Liberalization

Introduction

Service trade is the largest and fastest-growing sector of the international trading activates now. According to WTO document, service trade provides more than 60% of the global output and employment. More and more WTO members realized the importance of the international service trade, and in 1995 the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) was established by WTO members in the Uruguay Round negotiations.

Overview of the GATS.

The GATS is one of the most comprehensive agreements of the WTO (Richard Sanders, 2001). GATS contains several levels of obligations. First, the agreement contains successive future negotiations to increase coverage and expend the agreement. Second it includes general rules, such as most-favored nation treatment and transparency, which apply to all members. Third, it contains specific commitment, such as market access and national treatment. Specific commitments are an individual country's binding commitment or obligations undertaken by members to open markets in specific areas (V. Wijayaratnam 2002). Finally, the agreement also contains other rules for particular sectors. It is a general structure of the GATS.

The purpose of the essay.

With the development of the international service trade, more and more business sectors and countries realize the importance of GATS. This essay will analyze how GATS remove barriers to international trade in service. In another word how GATS liberalize the international service trade. And how liberalization of international service trade, which is guaranteed by GATS, promotes the whole international trade. In one word the aim of this essay is to analyze the effectiveness of GATS in the international trade.

The Effectiveness Of The GATS.

Improve the liberalization of international trade.

In the Uruguay Round, many countries made commitments in services. And an analysis of the commitment schedules indicates that most countries undertook very limited liberalization. Hoekman (1995) estimated that high-income countries (HICs) scheduled 45% of their service sectors and low and middle-income countries (LMICs) scheduled only 12% of service sectors (Rupa Chanda 2003, p2000). However, GATS frameworks make WTO members make a step toward liberalization. Liberalization means among other things, eliminating government policies whereby national providers are favored over foreign ones (Richard Sanders 2001). Because most trade in services occurs within a country, their barriers are not tariffs but internal domestic law, regulations and policies that may possibly discriminate against foreign service providers or even limit their profitability (Ralph Nader 2002). GATS in some degree eliminate the regulations, which prohibit foreign investors providing services in some area. The aim of the GATS is to liberalize "trade in service" among WTO members. Generally speaking it is effective for the GATS to advance the liberalization in the international service trade. And liberalization of GATS embodies two aspects --- one is non-discrimination and the other is less restriction.

First, non-discrimination is a noble concept of the GATS. Non-discrimination contributes a lot to create equal opportunities to WTO members in the international service trades. And equal opportunities will promote the whole economic performance and accelerate the development of the international service trades. From the provisions of most favored nation treatment (MFN) and national treatment (NT), we can get a clear idea about non-discrimination embodied in the GATS.

Articleâ?¡(1) Most-Favored-Nation Treatment (MFN) requires that "each member shall accord immediately and unconditionally to services and service suppliers of any other member, treatment no less favorable than that it accords to like services and service suppliers of any other country."

From this article we can find MFN eliminates discrimination among services or service supplier of other WTO member countries. And two exceptions of MFN give developing countries and countries in a union some place to develop their own industries.

Article XVII National treatment (NT) requires that a member be obliged to treat nationals of another WTO members and their products in the same way as its own national products (John Mo 2003).

From this article we can find NT gives an equal opportunities to both foreign parties and local parties and eliminate the discriminations between local parties and other foreign parties.

There are many other articles of GATS contribute to the concept of non-discrimination, but articles about MFN and NT are most obvious.

Second, the effectiveness of GATS in the liberalization of international trade makes the trade of services less restriction. And business could get most benefit from the GATS, for GATS reduce the barriers and regulations that block the international service trade. The provisions of GATS such as domestic regulation, economic integration and transparency all dampen the regulations and limitation of international services trade.

Article VI Domestic regulation requires that governments should regulate services reasonably and objectively (V.Wijayaratnam 2003). That means most of the domestic regulations should subject to the regulations of GATS. The liberalized trades are guaranteed by this article, which eliminates the domestic regulation blocked the international service trade.

Article V Economic integration allows for regional agreements liberalizing trade in service (V.Wijayaratnam 2003). That need members of WTO widen the sectoral coverage and eliminates substantially and discrimination in the sectors covered.

Article III Transparency requires members to make their laws, regulations and measures for the implementation of the GATS transparent, by publishing these laws and notifying the WTO of any changes (V.Wijayaratnam 2003). This will guarantee the foreign parties to make a long run plan about their investment without worrying about the suddenly change of other country's regulations.

From the three articles we can notice GATS makes an effort to let governments suit their regulations to the liberalization of international trade. On the one hand the WTO members should think twice about their decisions that affect a service. Their decisions should not object to the GATS. On the other hand the GATS pressures governments to widen the coverage of service sectors. It is not difficult to find that less restriction, which are embodied in the GATS, also enhance the liberalization.

The promotion of the international trade.

From the analysis above, it's no doubt for us to realize the effectiveness of the liberalization of international trade. The benefits of services liberalization extend far beyond the service industries, but these benefits will also affect other economic activities. It is impossible for any country to prosper today under the burden of inefficient and expensive infrastructure. Liberalization could help countries and business prosper by accessing to efficient service from abroad. That is the reason why GATS is so important and significant to promote the world trade.

First, GATS will improve the economic performance of WTO members. GATS provide relatively equitable surroundings for WTO members and at the same time it also enhance the competitive power of the service market (Wu Xingguang 2003). Without the spur of competition, the industries cannot excel. And an efficient services infrastructure is a precondition for economic success. Nowadays the prosperity of goods industries and other sectors depend on efficient services such as telecommunications, banking, insurance and so on. More and more governments rely on an open and transparent environment for the provision of services. As to a developed countries, they can benefit themselves from invest high technology service to developing countries. And for developing countries, they can not only get the high quality services, but also adopt the advanced technologies to stimulate their national productivity and home market.

Second, GATS will improve the whole environment of the international trade. The transparency and predictability of the regulations of countries will secure foreign firms to make investments. And it is possible to let everyone --- producers, investors workers and users --- have a clear idea of the rules of the game. The investors are able to make a long-run plan with greater certainty. Of course this kind of secure environment will attract more investment. At the same time non-discrimination and less restriction of the international service trade environment will promote the whole international market.

From the analysis above we can find the promotion of the international trade benefit from the liberalization of the international service trade. GATS is an effective accelerator of the liberalization of international service trade, which could promote the whole international trade.

The challenges of GATS.

As we know the GATS make a great contribution to the promotion and liberalization of international trade. But no things are perfect in the world, GATS also need to face some challenges. Many WTO members still think there are some problems existing in the GATS.

One of problem is that it is difficult to determine the actual scope of the GATS. Article I of the GATS states that "services provided in the exercise of governmental authority" are excluded from the agreement. However, according to Article 1:3 (c) of the GATS, "a service supplied in the exercise of governmental authority" means "any service which is supplied neither on a commercial basis nor in competition with one or more service suppliers." Very few public services would appear to be excluded by this definition. There is co-existence of public and private service suppliers in may social services (Rupa Chanda 2003). For example in the education area, government provides services that can also be obtained by private suppliers. Although the fees for private education are much higher, there are lots of people choose to get private education. Does this constitute a competitive relationship between the two segments? Sometimes it is difficult to define them. Most of the WTO members hope to use GATS to make profit for themselves. This will cause different members in different situations will have different interpretation of this ambiguousness. Developing countries do not like opening too much their local market; otherwise developed countries prefer developing countries to open a wide coverage of service sectors. This controversial point will dampen the liberalization of the international trade. Wu Xingguang (2003) said though GATS was established, the liberalization is still quite low. And because the ambiguousness of the GATS, this leaves the possibility for some countries to close off some particular service sectors to foreign countries by exercising the governmental authority in that sector (John Mo 2003).

An explicit example of China financial market.

China became the member of WTO in the year 2001. And before that year the government controlled most of the financial sectors. But now China is preparing to open this market. According to the commitment of China government, in the 5 years, China will gradually give the market access in the sectors about banking and insurance and so on (Yang Fei 2003).

The benefit of liberalization of this financial market is obvious. China could get more capital and resource from the investment of other countries. These reduce the total burden on government, helping them relocate governmental expenditure. Local business could adopt high quality management and technologies from foreign business. And consumers can enjoy the first class financial services. The drawback is whether our local financial sectors have the ability to compete with the sophisticated foreign business. However, generally speaking the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. That is the reason China want to become a member of WTO.

Conclusion.

As the international trade become more and more important, GATS will make a greater contribution to the international trade. No one can stop the development of the liberalization and promotion of the international trade. And GATS embody and accelerate the tendency of this kind of liberalization. Although the challenges are existed in GATS, as the development of future negotiation among WTO members, I think GATS will give the convenience to the international trade for all WTO members.

Reference:

1. Richard Sanders (2001), 'GATS: The End of Democracy?' Australian Financial Review, 15th June 2001.

2. V.Wijayaratnam (2003), Law335 International Business Law study guide, Produced by Learning Materials Center, Charles Sturt University, Wagga, New South Wales, Australia.

3. Ralph Nader (2002), 'GATS', by CommonDreams.org, Published on Friday, September 20.

4. Rupa Chanda (2003), 'Social services and the GATS: key issues and concerns', World Development, Vol.31, No.12, pp.1997-2011.

5. John Mo (2003), International Commercial Law, 3rd edn. LexisNexis Butterworths, Australia.

6. Wu Xingguang (2003), The law of international trade, China foreign economic relations and trade publishing house, China.

7. Yang Fei (2003), The law of WTO service trade, China foreign economic relations and trade publishing house, China.

History of the Revolution of Trade Union

Trade Union is one kind of labor union. These are one kind of organizations where the labors become accumulate to achieve some of their rights like proper working condition and proper wages. These organizations or unions negotiate to the employers to get their rights as well as to get the employees satisfaction with maintaining the employees' satisfaction also.

In order to realize the union history we have to look at the past. There was a system in Europe called the guild system which worked with the protection of some specific professions by maintaining advancement and skills. But the guild system should not be considered the same as union but the guild system must be told as the pioneer of the union system.

Before the industrial revolution, workers tended to work at their home to produce goods. But approximately at the time of eighteenth century due to the industrial revolution people became interested about joining at the industries. When a massive number of people started to work under one or more employee then it was becoming a necessary to make a representative of the workers to share their conditions with the employer. In the USA, early trade unions and workers performed very effective activities to achieve their rights.

The idea of Unions became very popular in the USA at nineteenth century. During that time the first national trade-union appeared called the National Labor Union. This organization was first appeared at the year of 1866 and the most important feature of this union is it was not for any particular labors. It was rally effective to gain all rights of labors working in every sector in USA. With the features of child labor protection and legislation about eight hour working shift, the Knight of Labor came out as a trade union in the USA at the year of 1869.

Whatever, there are several unions now all over the world who are working to gain the proper rights of the labors.

There is a lot of history behind the formation of a Trade Union. Click here to know more about Trade Union

Trade Association Forecasts U.S. Uranium Industry to Produce 20 Million Pounds by 2012

The Uranium Producers of America (UPA) was formed more than twenty years ago. Over the years, this trade association worked with Congress and state legislators to help improve the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle: uranium mining. Today, it has been re-energized with new members and with the task of helping to rebuild the U.S. uranium mining sector. We talked with Jon Indall, an attorney based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, who serves as the Executive Director of the UPA.

Uranium Producers of America members include International Uranium Corporation, Power Resources, Uranium Resources, Cotter Corporation, Energy Metals Corporation, Mestena Uranium, U.S. Energy, Laramide Resources, Strathmore Minerals, Uranium Energy and Neutron Energy.

StockInterview: What is the function of the Uranium Producers of America (UPA)?

Jon Indall: The Uranium Producers of America is a trade association, originally founded in 1985 to promote the viability of the domestic uranium industry.

StockInterview: How did the UPA trade association come into existence?

Jon Indall: The UPA was founded initially by the major U.S. producers, such as Kerr McGee, Homestake, United Nuclear, Rocky Mountain Energy, Union Carbide, Atlas, and Pathfinder. The major operating companies decided to form their own group to focus on specific uranium viability issues.

StockInterview: In what way does the UPA differ from the National Mining Association with regards to the uranium industry?

Jon Indall: Over the years the UPA was sort of a lobbying institution for the domestic industry and handled viability type issues. The National Mining Association has a uranium environmental subcommittee. The NMA has been more involved with the regulatory aspect, but we work together and have a good relationship. There's definitely an overlap between the members of each group, but our charge has been more on the viability aspect.

StockInterview: How do you promote the viability of the domestic uranium industry?

Jon Indall: Our agenda is twofold. We want to continue to promote the viability of uranium production in the United States. In that vein we have been meeting with the Department of Energy (DOE) to explain what's going on out in the field. We let them know there are active companies pursuing mining operations, acquiring properties, doing the exploration and development work, and so forth. We are also urging DOE not to do anything that impacts the market.

StockInterview: How could the Department of Energy affect the uranium market?

Jon Indall: The Department of Energy is sitting on a lot of inventory. We want DOE to be judicious in how they use that material. There's a very solid chance, in our view, going out a few years, there's going to be a gap between available supply and demand. The secondary market is diminishing. We want DOE to hold back their material. If there is a shortage, they can ride to the rescue, and the reactors won't go cold.

StockInterview: Are the utilities going to get back into the domestic uranium sector to ensure their nuclear reactors have sufficient uranium available?

Jon Indall: In the 1970s, when we had the initial boom, the domestic utilities were out making deals with producers. They were actively investing in projects and things of that nature. I don't think that's going to happen this year or next year. But a few years down the line, if things really tighten up, you might see that.

StockInterview: Where do the U.S. utilities stand with regards to a domestic uranium industry?

Jon Indall: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I think the utilities saw Canada as such a big production center, they lost interest in the domestic producers. They were not too worried about having enough fuel coming in.

StockInterview: But, hasn't the industry changed over the past few years, as the spot uranium price has soared?

Jon Indall: If you read the trade press and everything else, you can see, with the impetus that's going on in Asia and all the reactors that are under construction or planned, I think the utilities have to understand that security of supply is something they need to pay attention to. It's on our agenda to start talking to the utilities a little bit more seriously. Even though you can get this material from other places, it's nice to have a local producer. It's fairly apparent this industry, in the next four to five years, could be producing in the range of 20 million pounds.

StockInterview: Do you believe the domestic uranium industry can produce twenty million pounds over the next four to five years?

Jon Indall: Conservatively, five to six years, but maybe even sooner. Well, let me put it this way: We're producing roughly 3 million pounds now. That's up from two. I could be off by a factor of a few hundred thousand. Power Resources is producing roughly 2 million pounds. With the Uranium Resources production that's come on in Texas, and with Mestena, you've got about another million pounds or so. IUC has just announced that they're going to produce 3.5 million pounds, I think, over the next two years. Some of that is material they're cleaning up for DOE, but it is still production. All the UPA members have plans to be in production at some point.

StockInterview: Yes, but doesn't it take five to eleven years to get the production underway?

Jon Indall: I think eleven years is too far out. I think, if the companies can get with it, you can see four or five In Situ Recovery (ISR) operations producing one to two million pounds apiece. And then maybe somebody gets a conventional mine going here again, like IUC is doing. I can't tell you the exact number, but I think you'll see increased production, assuming that the price continues to rise or stabilize.

StockInterview: How are the uranium companies going to move that fast?

Jon Indall: I think a lot of it, in my mind, is how well the regulatory community accepts what these guys are trying to do. My impression is - and this is just me talking - that a lot of the communities, where this activity has been undertaken before, are not averse to seeing it again. It means good jobs and that type of thing. A lot of these communities are sort of depressed communities. For example in New Mexico, McKinley County is one of the lowest counties in the state economically. I think the average guy out there would welcome the opportunity to see some high paying jobs.

StockInterview: How well would the regulatory community in New Mexico react?

Jon Indall: I recently met with the New Mexico Mining Minerals Division. Since we passed the New Mexico Mining Act in 1993, no one has permitted a mine in New Mexico. We were talking about how we were going to do this. Obviously it's not going to happen tomorrow.

StockInterview: What about senior state officials, such as the Governor of New Mexico?

Jon Indall: I can tell you the New Mexico governor was extremely supportive of the uranium miners when he was in Congress. He introduced legislation supporting our efforts in those days, and some of it he did on his own. He's got a big state to govern, and I think he's looking for jobs. I think if we can show him that we can do this better than we did in the past, then he'll be supportive. That's my hope.

StockInterview: Will the major oil or mining companies return to the uranium industry?

Jon Indall: I don't anticipate the big oil companies coming in again for some time. BHP Billiton initially said, 'We have no interest in uranium mining in New Mexico.' Then they turned around and bought the biggest property in Australia. Now I understand BHP is looking hard at their New Mexico operations. So you might see some of the big mining companies involved.

StockInterview: Who, then, will build up the domestic uranium industry?

Jon Indall: I think it may be more entrepreneurial, which was the way it started back in the 1950s. The early producers, with the exception of Kerr McGee, were individuals - Charlie Steen, Dick Bokum, and Cotter Ferguson in Wyoming. They were the people who really got this industry up and going, with AEC assistance. I am not sure the oil companies are that critical, but I would like to see utilities get into the mix. I think it all depends on how supply and demand is perceived.

StockInterview: How should the major uranium producers, such as Cameco or BHP, deal with the impact of a potential supply shortage for U.S. utilities?

Jon Indall: BHP and Cameco are aggressively trying to increase their production. They wouldn't be doing that if they didn't think there was a market for it. The U.S. market and the U.S. government are so critical to the health of all suppliers, in my opinion, because our government has done more to help and harm domestic and worldwide production than any other entity. I think foreign producers would be wise to recognize that having a viable U.S. industry, which senators and the congressmen care about, because they're creating jobs and income in their states, is not a bad thing. I think it keeps DOE honest. To me, if I were sitting up in Canada, this would be something I might be looking at.

StockInterview: What should U.S. utilities be looking at, with regards to the supply picture?

Jon Indall: You've got the Russians announcing they're not going to proceed with the HEU agreement after 2013. It is my understanding they're looking to beef up supply for themselves. With the utilities, I think it's kind of 'wait and see' right now. I think that they're looking at this from the big picture. I think it's becoming more evident to them nuclear has got to play an ever increasing role. Global warming is really driving a lot of boats here, and I think they're realizing there has to be a real active nuclear power plant production increase.

StockInterview: How are things differently now for the Uranium Producers of America compared to the early days in the 1980s?

Jon Indall: Right now, it's a much different atmosphere than it was in 1985. The market was going down rapidly in 1985. Everybody was kind of fighting for their existence. We were pleading our case that this industry was created by the government - the government did things that really screwed it up. I think, now, we're not asking for so much. We're basically asking for the status quo. We don't want the government to do anything that adversely impacts the price. Let the price work itself out. Let's start producing uranium where cost has some impact. The price and the cost of have a relationship. From about 1985 on, they did not.

COPYRIGHT © 2007 by StockInterview, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

James Finch contributes to StockInterview.com and other publications. StockInterview’s “Investing in the Great Uranium Bull Market” has become the most popular book ever published for uranium mining stock investors. Visit [http://www.stockinterview.com]