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Economic Report of the President 1994 - The American Presidency ...

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ignated monopolies. It also establishes a trilateral committee toconsider <strong>the</strong> relationship between trade and competition policy in<strong>the</strong> NAFTA countries. Some o<strong>the</strong>r free-trade areas have gone fur<strong>the</strong>r.For example, in <strong>the</strong> European Union and <strong>the</strong> Australia-NewZealand Free Trade Area, antidumping laws do not apply to tradeamong member countries, since this is considered internal trade,subject to organization-wide competition policies.Until <strong>the</strong>re is greater convergence and international cooperationin <strong>the</strong> enforcement <strong>of</strong> antitrust laws against cross-border conduct,international disputes over unfair pricing between corporations <strong>of</strong>different national origins will <strong>of</strong>ten continue to play out in one <strong>of</strong>two ways: through <strong>the</strong> application <strong>of</strong> national competition laws,with <strong>the</strong> continuing difficulties associated with <strong>the</strong>ir internationalenforcement, or through <strong>the</strong> application <strong>of</strong> overly restrictive nationaltrade laws. As part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Uruguay Round, <strong>the</strong> WTO Councilfor Trade in Goods will consider provisions on investment policyand competition policy in <strong>the</strong> future. <strong>The</strong> OECD is also pursuinga work program in this area.REGIONALISMAlthough <strong>the</strong>re may be significant benefits to trade liberalizationon a regional basis, some nonmember countries could be hurtthrough trade and investment diversion, as trade and investmentare preferentially shifted from <strong>the</strong>m to <strong>the</strong> member countries. Oneway to mitigate <strong>the</strong>se concerns is for members <strong>of</strong> a free-trade areato move toward a customs union whose common external tariffwould match <strong>the</strong> lowest tariff within <strong>the</strong> region prior to <strong>the</strong> formation<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> customs union. Ano<strong>the</strong>r possibility would be to open regionalarrangements to new members. It has also been suggestedthat GATT rules be amended to allow compensation fornonmembers hurt by regional liberalization agreements. <strong>The</strong>se ando<strong>the</strong>r proposals to deal with regional free-trade associations mayneed to be discussed in GATT in order to preserve <strong>the</strong> benefits <strong>of</strong>regional trade liberalization while addressing <strong>the</strong> concerns <strong>of</strong> outsiders.FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKETDEVELOPMENTS<strong>The</strong> international value <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> dollar, as measured by its tradeweightedaverage exchange rate, rose by an astonishing 50 percentbetween <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> 1980 and early 1985. By mid-1988, however,<strong>the</strong> dollar had returned to its 1980 level, and since <strong>the</strong>n it has continuedon a slight downward trend, with much narrower fluctuationsthan earlier in <strong>the</strong> 1980s. <strong>The</strong> large appreciation and subsequentdepreciation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> dollar had a marked impact on <strong>the</strong> com-240

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