Amarasinha, Stefan D.; Evenett, Simon J. --- "Towards a WTO Business-Enabling Compact" [2011] ELECD 768; in Govaere, Inge; Quick, Reinhard; Bronckers, Marco (eds), "Trade and Competition Law in the EU and Beyond" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Trade and Competition Law in the EU and Beyond

Editor(s): Govaere, Inge; Quick, Reinhard; Bronckers, Marco

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857935663

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Towards a WTO Business-Enabling Compact

Author(s): Amarasinha, Stefan D.; Evenett, Simon J.

Number of pages: 13

Extract:

2. Towards a WTO business-
enabling compact
Stefan D. Amarasinha and Simon J. Evenett*

2.1 GLOBAL COMPANIES ­ PAST FAILURES

According to the World Investment Report 2009 developing countries were
hosts to the parent corporations of 21,245 multinationals and to 425,258
affiliates of foreign multinationals.1 Brazil, India, and China (BICs) have
approximately 4,500 multinationals operating overseas, with the number of
Chinese multinationals exceeding that of the United States by 50 per cent.2
Even during the recent global economic crisis outward FDI from the BICs
exceeded US$90 billion in 2008.3 However, going back just a decade or two,
the picture was of course a very different one, largely dominated by western
multinationals.4
The BICs are increasingly taking a vocal role in speaking up for their
multinationals in connection with regulatory hurdles and discriminatory
practices faced abroad. Examples include Arcelor/Mittal,5 CNOOC/
UNOCAL, and more recently the Chinese company Huawei ­ partnering
with Bain ­ having to abandon its proposed acquisition of the US company


* The views expressed in this text are those of the author(s) and should not be
seen or interpreted as an official position of the European Commission.
1
The comparable totals for `developed countries' were 58,783 and 366,681,
respectively. See Annex Table A.1.8. of World Investment Report 2009: Transna-
tional Corporations, Agricultural Production and Development.
2
Although in terms of market capitalization, most US multinationals are still
much larger.
3
See Annex Table B.1 of ...