Simon Lester

I recently participated in an ICTSD event on RTA disputes, and my assignment was to look at how compliance went in cases in which there was a panel ruling. I did my best to dig up information, but it's hard to find it for many cases. Luckily, there

Does international investment law sometimes make governments pay compensation when they rethink policy? As a sequel to this post, here is an excerpt from Gary Born's dissent in the Wirtgen & JSW Solar arbitration (the Investment Arbitration Reporter summary of this case, which involved government subsidies to the

USTR has some job openings: Director for Innovation and Intellectual Property (Attorney) Trade Attorney USTR Intern Position - Summer 2018

This is from law professor Weihuan Zhou: The China – EU (US) fight over issues relating to China’s market economy status is attracting growing prominence. In the ongoing EU – Price Comparison Methodologies (DS516) dispute, the WTO panel will need to determine, amongst other issues, whether Section 15 of China’s

DSU Article 22.2 allows WTO complainants, in the event of non-compliance, to "request authorization from the DSB to suspend the application to the Member concerned of concessions or other obligations under the covered agreements." How explicit must they be in this suspension request? Do they have to

This is from Ambassador Lighthizer's statement at the NAFTA press conference today: Finally, I would like to refer, because I think it fits into this context to an unprecedented trade action that Canada brought against the United States very recently. It constitutes a massive attack on all of

The 6th round of the NAFTA talks wrapped up today, and my impression of the closing statements was that everyone was relatively positive, much more so than after the 4th round anyway. I wanted to highlight one thing from Ambassador Lighthizer's statement: Free trade agreements are essentially grants

This is from The Canadian Press: Canada and Mexico are applying pressure on the United States to decide whether it wants to be part of NAFTA’s investor-state dispute mechanism, threatening to sideline it unless it commits to participating fully. Multiple sources say the conversation came to a head this

This is from Inside US Trade: [Commerce Secretary Wilbur] Ross objected to the “protectionist” label that critics of the Trump administration have attached to U.S. trade actions and rebutted the idea that China could pick up the mantle and be a leader on free trade policy. “The Chinese have

This is from the Toronto Star: Canada has made a bold offer to accept a controversial U.S. demand at the NAFTA talks about how to resolve commercial trade disputes, the Star has learned. It involves the current binding trade dispute settlement process used to resolve lawsuits by investor companies