International Management: Culture, Strategy, and Behavior 11th Edition by Fred Luthans Solution man

According to antiglobalization activists, if corporations are free to locate anywhere in the world, the world’s poorest countries will relax or eliminate environmental standards and social services in order to attract first-world investment and the jobs and wealth that come with it.
Proponents of globalization contend that even within the developing world, it is protectionist policies, not trade and investment liberalization, that result in environmental and social damage.
They believe globalization will force higher-polluting countries into an integrated global community that takes responsible measures to protect the environment.
While there may be some short-term disruptions, over the long term, globalization supporters believe industrialization will create wealth that will enable new industries to employ more modern, environmentally friendly technology.

 
Global and Regional Integration
Over the past six decades, succeeding rounds of global trade negotiations have resulted in dramatically reduced tariff and nontariff barriers among countries.
Table 1-3 shows the history of these negotiation rounds, their primary focus, and the number of countries involved.
Efforts crested in 1994 with the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the creation of the WTO.
World Trade Organization (WTO) is the global organization of countries that oversees rules and regulations for international trade and investment.
In December 1999, trade ministers from around the world met in Seattle to launch a new round of global trade talks.
Protesters disrupted the meeting, and talks were postponed.
In November 2001, the members of the WTO met again and successfully launched a new round of negotiations at Doha, Qatar, to be known as the “Development Round.”
After a lack of consensus among WTO members regarding agricultural subsidies and the issues of competition and government procurement, progress slowed.
At the most recent meeting in Geneva in July 2008, disagreements between the U.S., China, and India over access to agricultural imports from developing countries resulted in an impasse after nine days of discussions.
Teaching Tip: The World Trade Organization (WTO) website (http://www.wto.org) provides a wide range of current information about the WTO.
Teaching Tip: The GATT Agreement is available online in Adobe Acrobat format at http://docsonline.wto.org.
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a free trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico that has removed most barriers to trade and investment.
In the 25 years of NAFTA, trade between its member countries quadrupled.
Despite the successes, there was criticism such as the inability of Mexican farmers to compete with subsidized U.S. farmers.
In 2018, the agreement was renegotiated, now called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), and will replace NAFTA following ratification by each country. (Mexico ratified the agreement in June 2019.)
Teaching Tip: The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative offers a fact sheet on USMCA (https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/united-states-mexico-canada-agreement/fact-sheets/modernizing)
Other regional and bilateral trade agreements, including CAFTA-DR (U.S-Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement) were negotiated in the same spirit as NAFTA/USMCA.
These agreements not only reduce trade barriers but require additional domestic legal and business reforms in developing nations to protect property rights.
Economic activity in Latin America continues to be volatile, yet economic and export growth continue in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico.
There is also a great deal of cross-border investment between Latin American countries as these agreements present new opportunities for bolstering trade, investment, services, and working conditions in the region.
Teaching Tip: Many Latin American countries are using the Internet to promote themselves. The website for Chile, which is available at http://www.thisischile.cl/, is an excellent example.
Despite some challenges, including the planned exit of the United Kingdom in 2019, the European Union (EU) has made significant progress over the past two decades in becoming a unified market.
In the early 2000s it consisted of 15 nations: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.
In May 2004, 10 additional countries joined the EU: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
On January 1, 2007, Romania and Bulgaria acceded to the EU.
In July 2013, Croatia officially became the newest and 28th member of the EU.
Even though the EU has experienced challenges, including “Brexit,” the EU remains more integrated as a single market than NAFTA/USMCA, CAFTA-DR, or allied Asian countries.