Trade | IATP

U.S. China Agreement on Food Safety: Terms and Enforcement Capacity

A review of the U.S. China food safety agreement summarizing the views of U.S. Congressional investigators who doubted that the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) could effectively implement and enforce the hundreds of pages of new food safety rules.

Bush Administration Prioritizes Trade Over Food Safety

The Bush Administration's Interagency Working Group (IWG) is pushing a flawed food safety system that prioritizes trade considerations over public health. Many of the IWG's recommendations and actions are designed to reduce import inspection and testing and instead emphasize safety certification of foreign import facilities.

Import Food Safety in the Twilight of the Bush Administration

In 2007, 30 million pounds of ground beef was pulled off the U.S. market in a series of twenty recalls because of contamination concerns. The recalls highlight serious concerns in our deregulated food safety system. Over the last decade we've reduced the number of food safety inspectors and instead rely more on the food industry to regulate itself.

Comment to FDA on Third Party Certification Programs

IATP submitted this comment to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about Third Party Certification programs in other countries to ensure food safety. We identified problems in both concept and in relation to other food safety programs, particularly in relation to import re-inspection and product testing.

The WTO Will Not Solve the Food Crisis

If I hear Pascal Lamy say one more time that the Doha Round will help solve the current food crisis, I am going to explode! For months, the WTO chief has used every public opportunity (and then some) to push for the completion of the WTO’s trade round to solve the current food crisis.

Can High Agriculture Prices Spur Development?

Trade ministers gathering in Accra, Ghana for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) should take steps to support agriculture and manage supplies to address price volatility, according to a new paper by IATP.

A Time of High Prices: An Opportunity for the Rural Poor?

This new paper by IATP finds that governments have been limited in their ability to help farmers take advantage of higher prices – due to free trade economics pushed by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization.

Global Rules to Shape Biofuel Market

The long-term sustainability of the fast-moving global biofuel market will depend on changes to international trade and investment rules that govern energy, environment, agriculture and rural development, according to a new paper published by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

NAFTA Takes the Political Spotlight: It's About Time

Almost 15 years after it was ratified, the North American Free Trade Agreement is increasingly in the spotlight.

New WTO Agriculture Text Falls Short ? Again

New draft agricultural trade rules released at the World Trade Organization today fail to repair a deeply flawed negotiating agenda. This latest attempt to save the Doha Round adds nothing new except more loopholes and exemptions to an already complicated text.  