Navigating the Brave New World of International Trade Agreements

Bruce Fox, VP, General Counsel & Secretary, The Main Street America Group

The world seems to be getting smaller every day. Technology has improved the speed of business travel and all forms of commercial communication to the point where the global market is similar to the U.S. domestic market just a few short decades ago. All of these changes do come with a price, one of which is the political reaction to the ebb and flow of commerce between nations with varying agendas, needs and political necessities, including immigration policies. International trade agreements provide a relatively consistent and enforceable framework to facilitate international trade and as might be expected are subject to the real pressure of international politics. While these pressures may take different shapes and forms, one clearly observable form is through trade barriers implemented by one sovereign nation to control, limit or block trade with one or more other sovereign nations. These trade barriers can be complex to understand and difficult to track as the global political landscape seems to change on a daily basis. For example, the U.S. and other nations seemed to be embracing a more global market under the administration of U.S. President Barak Obama. This direction changed in 2017 when President Donald Trump took office and pushed his agenda against bilateral or even trilateral trade agreements. This comes on the heels of “Brexit,” the United Kingdom’s historic vote to withdraw from the European Union on June 23, 2016, which regardless of the reason or reasons behind the vote signifies a major move away from globalization.

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USA International Insurance June 2018 Vol.11, No. 43, Spring 2018

Bruce Fox

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Bruce R. Fox is Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary with The Main Street America Group headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. Mr. Fox’s duties include state and federal regulatory compliance, mergers and acquisitions, complex transactions, corporate governance and litigation management. After a long career as an insurance defense litigator, handling civil trials and appeals in US state and federal courts, Mr. Fox became in-house counsel with The Main Street America Group, first by managing its staff counsel operations in Massachusetts before moving into a corporate counsel role and eventually becoming general counsel. Mr. Fox spent many years as an adjunct professor at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts and is the author of several legal articles published in US national law journals.

The Main Street America Group

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The Main Street America Group is a US-based property/casualty insurance company providing insurance products to individuals and businesses throughout the US. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, The Main Street America Group offers a wide range of commercial and personal insurance products, as well as fidelity and surety bond products, to "Main Street" individuals, families and businesses through eight property/casualty insurance carriers. In addition, The Main Street America Group participates in a global catastrophe reinsurance program that provides reinsurance coverage to direct insurance programs world-wide. A.M. Best Company gives the Main Street America Groups insurance carriers a financial strength rating of "A" (Excellent) and an issuer credit rating of “A+.” The Main Street America Group is the founding company partner of Trusted Choice®, the branding program of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America.

USA International Insurance June 2018 Vol.11, No. 43, Spring 2018

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