Showing papers in "Berkeley Journal of International Law in 1983"

The Mercantilist Challenge to the Liberal International Trade Order

Abstract: The international trade conflicts that now appear so prominently in the press are not simply ordinary trade frictions that can be dealt with in a routine way through existing institutions and within agreed rules. These new conflicts are the signs of fractures in a mature trading system, fractures appearing under the weight of problems and events that were not central when the current arrangements were established and that cannot be easily resolved within its logic and rules. While the objective of an open trading system remains important, the task of sustaining open trade is likely to prove ever more difficult because of state intervention in business, itself a response to changes in production and in the international division of labor as well as to the economic troubles of the 1970s and 1980s. Present trade problems will prove more enduring than the political controversy over pipeline sanctions, the aggressively low value of the yen, or even the severe economic downturn that has exacerbated sectoral tensions. Consequently, American policy faces a real dilemma because policies that would effectively defend the competitive position of American firms might further undermine the open trading system itself. Basic conflict over national economic position and advantage underlies many of the present trade troubles. In the narrowest sense, the question is which countries will create substantial commercial advantage in the growth industries of the future and which ones will be able to defend employment in today's mainline industries during that sectoral transition. More broadly, the very international rules setting the appropriate roles for government in national and international economic life are being challenged and the premises of multi-lateral trade arrangements are being questioned. There are those who believe that reordering the international monetary system and, in particular, setting stable and workable exchange rate parities, would resolve many of the sectoral trade problems we now encounter. The present valuation of the dollar and rapid shifts in

The Vredeling Proposal: Cooperation versus Confrontation in European Labor Relations

Abstract: Multinational corporations (MNCs),' companies that maintain operations in one or more countries outside their home base, have been described as capable of influencing the fortunes not only of those who work in the companies they control, but also of entire nations.2 Since World War II, the dramatic increase in size and diversity of MNCs has cast them into the role of a major institution of the modem, world economic order.3 Between a quarter and a third of all world production is controlled by MNCs, as well as over half of world trade.4 That MNCs possess enormous economic power is unquestioned. That this power should be controlled is also conceded; even the international business community has generally agreed to support codes of

Badger Revisited: Implications for the Implementation of the Transfer of Technology Code

Abstract: Negotiations within the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to develop a Transfer of Technology Code' are currently stalled over the related issues of the Code's legal nature and mode of implementation. The obstacle posed by these issues, endemic to international regulatory efforts, has proven particularly troublesome for the various codes being formulated in the United Nations to control multinational enterprises (MNEs).2 The first code of conduct

Coordination of Taxation between the United States and Guam

Abstract: A recent Internal Revenue Service [I.R.S.] ruling' and proposals2 to reform the coordination of taxation between the United States and Guam highlight the difficulties that exist in the current system. One of the principal problems is the tax system's inability to provide sufficient revenues for Guam, which is partially due to the fact that the system's complexity often leads to tax avoidance or evasion. In particular, some corporations have considered using Guam to replace the Netherlands Antilles as a "tax haven."3 The I.R.S. revenue ruling is designed to prevent this outcome. This Article will examine the variety of difficulties with the current tax regime. Part I contains an historical analysis of the tax system, while Part II discusses the major problems that have arisen as a product of the system's unique history. Lastly, Part III will review the various reforms that have been proposed, both past and present, and will examine their utility and likelihood of adoption.