[PEN-L:9891] Corporate Welfare and International Investment Rules

[Interhemispheric Resource Center]

New at Foreign Policy In Focus

Corporate Welfare and U.S. Foreign Policy
by Janice Shields

U.S. aid for international investors, exporters, and importers exceeds
$32 billion annually and benefits such "needy" recipients as General
Motors, Citibank, Archer Daniels Midland, and Boeing. The Market
Access Program (MAP), for example, uses taxpayer money to reimburse=20
corporate foreign advertising costs. Proponents of MAP contend that these=20
subsidies generate $16 in export revenue for every $1 in taxpayer costs. Yet,=20
U.S. General Accounting Office studies could not document any increase in=20
exports due to MAP expenditures.=20

To read the complete report:
www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/papers/cw/index


Are International Investment Rules and the Environment Stuck in the Mud?=20
Written by Lyuba Zarsky, Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development

In the MAI (Multilateral Agreement on Investment) process, which the U.S. initiated and led, environmental and social concerns were initially not even on the radar screen. Even after a
storm of public criticism, environmental issues made only a minor appearance. Yet the evidence shows that regulation=97or the lack of it=97matters. Foreign investment, both direct and portfolio, could act to promote ecological sustainability, which is=97or should be=97a strategic U.S= .. foreign policy goal.

www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/briefs/vol4/v4n22env