LLM research topics

International Trade
Researched by: Ibrahem Malik

Topic 1:
Impacts of NAFTA on international trade between US, Canada and
Mexico.
The North America free trade agreement as an example of relatively successful
international trade and investment agreement between US, Canada and Mexico brings
with it many benefits and challenges. The goal of NAFTA was to eliminate barriers to
trade and investment between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Previous searches have
shown that with the emergence of NAFTA economy of these countries is affected. But
there is a need to highlight the impact of NAFTA on international trade between these
countries.

Topic 2
EU and US competing for world markets, a divergence in international
trade law and emergence of disputes
Over the years there have been a number of trade disputes between these two economic
blocs, even though they are usually good allies (with the exception of the Iraq war).
Many of these disputes have involved agricultural products, such as disputes about trade
in genetically modified organisms (GMs) though recently settled disputes concerned
trade in steel and other current disputes focus on U.S. tax rebates for firms exporting
goods and the role of each bloc in subsidizing domestic aircraft manufacturers (the EU
subsidizes Airbus, the US defense program may be deemed a subsidy to Boeing). What
should international policy be on GMs? Should each country be allowed to regulate these
products as it sees fit? Should countries harmonize tax policies so that disputes such as
the current one are avoided? What is the divergence in trade policies as a result of their
competition for world markets?

Topic 3
Pak china economic corridor and international law. How international trade
agreements might affect it
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a multi-billion dollar infrastructure
investment project, is heralded as a game changer for Pakistans economy and regional
cooperation. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has turned a new leaf in
historically proven Sino-Pak relations. CPEC is expected to give easier and cheaper
access to China to the Middle East and regional countries by connecting Pakistans
seaport, Gwadar with Western China. But there is also a need to look it from legal and
policy perspective what are the legal issues involved in this project, its challenges. Also
highlight the relevance of the application of international law to CPEC.

Topic 4
The extent to which trade agreements have lead to environmental
deterioration in Mexico?
A reduction in trade barriers generally will affect the environment by expanding the scale
of economic activity. With regard to a NAFTA, the environmentalists have expressed a
number of reasons for fearing that free trade and direct investment flows between the
United States and Mexico may aggravate pollution problems like air pollution in Mexico
and faster depletion of scarce natural resources. So some questions have to be answered
should trade agreements and environmental agreements be made jointly? If countries
agree to specific targets to limit pollution, should these pollution rights be tradable
between countries like US and Mexico? Researches have been done on effects of
international trade on environment. Is trade good or bad for environment, but there is a
need to further research on should countries like Mexico be able to ban products that are
produced in environmentally unfriendly ways?

Note: The researcher reserves the copy rights of these topics