Trade and Culture

Last week in our international business class, we discussed how culture and business relate to each other and how each affects the other. One area of particular interest to me, however, is how trade affects culture. Trade agreements have been around since humans first began trading goods, and these trade agreements undoubtedly changed these cultures in both positive and negative ways. On the positive side, it introduced new products into the culture and allowed money to be made. Negatively, it was the cause of conflict due to greed. Trade also can impact the same country differently throughout. Native cultures are often impacted differently than cultures and peoples who emigrated into the country or are born into the country through parents who traveled there. Though the article below was written in 2014, it gives the reader a peak into how NAFTA and, at the time, soon to be implemented TPP impact the native inhabitants of Mexico. 

http://lastrealindians.com/economic-colonialism-free-trade-the-obama-administration-the-trans-pacific-partnership-trade-deal-by-matt-remle/

- Nicole Dieterle

The Trans-Pacific Partnership and Environmental Sustainability

Environmental sustainability is a critical component of international trade.  With pollution at its highest levels and natural resources dwindling, The Trans-Pacific Partnership must have standards to minimize the negative impact on the environment. This trade deal has the highest environmental standards of any trade deal ever. It has superior environmental rights, enforcement, and stiffer penalties for those who violate. The Trans-Pacific Partnership requires countries to maintain and enforce current environmental laws. It also requires protection for endangered species, has regulations that forbid buying from illegal fishing vessels, promotes conservation of marine animals, and prevents marine pollution. This trade agreement recognizes ozone depletion and eliminates tariffs on green products. More trade agreements should strive for the environmental standards like the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  To learn more about the environmental protections of this agreement or to see how it compares to other trade agreements click here: http://www.thirdway.org/memo/tpp-in-brief-environmental-standards

-Lorreen McCabe

In President Donald Trump’s short time in office, it has been evident that he believes NAFTA is not in the best interest of The United States. According to an article from Quartz, he argues that The United States is losing out, because work is being moved to countries that can produce products cheaper and for less labor costs.  In 2015, more than $235 billion in products were exported to Mexico. If the United States began charging a tariff on products Mexico exports to the United States, they legally could do the same. He is determined to renegotiate the agreement; however, it got off to a rough start when Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto cancelled his trip to Washington over a Twitter post by President Trump. He argued that changing NAFTA would help block illegal immigrants and proposed that Mexico pay for a wall to block them. Mexico is still willing to negotiate, but claims they will walk away if President Trump suggests that Mexico pay for the wall.  At this time, President Trump seems to be more concerned with Mexico and has not addressed Canada much. It will be interesting to see what happens with negotiations over the next several months between countries. Read the full article here: 

https://qz.com/893438/everything-you-need-to-know-about-nafta-as-donald-trump-prepares-to-renegotiate-it/

-Lorreen McCabe

Abandoning TPP...

There has been a lot of talk lately about President Trump's abandonment of TPP, and it has people around the world questioning what this means for global economies. Is the TPP really helping the American economy? Could a "better deal", as Mr. Trump's administration says, really be negotiated? Will the U.S. have difficulty renegotiating trade agreements due to mistrust from other countries? We can only speculate how this will affect the economy. The article below, written by Shin Jang-Sup, a professor at the National University of Singapore and former adviser to South Korea's finance minister, weighs in on some of these exact questions and gives us an insight to the pros and cons of our current administration's decision to abandon the TPP. 

http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/the-pros-and-cons-of-us-withdrawal-from-tpp

- Nicole

If you're looking for other interesting reads following the international business world, look no further than these blogs:

BRICS

http://bumgt260brics.blogspot.com/

Foreign Direct Investment - Wisconsin

http://internationalbusiness2017.blogspot.com/

Germany

http://ib260germany.blogspot.com/

Hanseatic Countries (Northern Europe and Baltic Sea)

http://northerneurope-balticsea.blogspot.com/

Random and other important international business related news

https://ib260bh.blogspot.com

Syria and the Middle East 

http://ehdw-intlbiz.blogspot.com/

United Kingdom     

http://unitedkingdomstout.blogspot.com/

- Nicole

Introductions

What is NAFTA? What is TPP? Why are they important to the United States economy and businesses? Hopefully, after visiting, you’ll be able to better answer these questions!

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a trade agreement negotiated (1994) between the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, while the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is an agreement negotiated between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Unites States (until January 2017), and Vietnam. Where NAFTA fails, the TPP thrives. Below is a short article written by former president, Barack Obama, outlining just this.

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-major-differences-between-NAFTA-and-TPP

Still have questions about NAFTA or TPP? Please visit these two sites for more information and continue to check back to the blog for more updates!

https://ustr.gov/tpp/
https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/north-american-free-trade-agreement-nafta

- Chloe, Lorreen, and Nicole