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Simon Lester

Counting Down the Appellate Body Members' Terms

This is from Manfred Elsig, Mark Pollack and Gregory Shaffer: The future of the world trading system is at stake thanks to an impasse in Geneva over the appointment of members of the Appellate Body (AB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Trump administration has been waging a behind-the-scenes

Is International Economic Law International?

Following up on my earlier posts, I want to talk briefly about U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer's response to a question about WTO dispute settlement: ... We’ve had other provisions where the WTO has taken – really, I think, took the position that they were going to strike

USTR's NAFTA Chapter 20 Proposals

Recall that at a recent CSIS event, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said this: ... Back when Senator Brock and I were there and there was a system, it was before 1995, before the WTO, under the GATT, and there was a system where you would bring panels and then

Lighthizer on WTO Dispute Settlement

This is an excerpt from the Q & A at the Lighthizer CSIS event mentioned in the last post, relating to WTO dispute settlement. I'm just going to quote it for now, but I should have more to say later. MR. MILLER: ... To continue with the WTO, the

Lighthizer on Trade

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer spoke at CSIS yesterday. The full transcript is here. I'm going to respond to some of his specific points. Early on, he refers to a growing skepticism about trade: For decades, support for what we call free trade has been eroding among

Guest Post: A Follow-up to the EU Commission’s Decision to ‘Split’ Trade and Investment Protection

This is a guest post by Szilárd Gáspár-Szilágyi In a previous post Simon Lester has commented on President Juncker’s wish to rescue the EU’s trade policy, by concluding a set of streamlined trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand that would carve out contentious clauses on investment protection.

Juncker's "Risky" Decision to Split Trade and ISDS/Investment Protection

This is from Politico: Jean-Claude Juncker wants to style the EU as the undisputed champion of global trade when he steps up to deliver his State of the Union address in Strasbourg Wednesday. The European Commission president’s pièce de résistance will be to propose a fast-track system to ensure

Guest Post: Dispute Finance For Sovereigns In WTO Disputes - Access To Justice For Developing Countries

This is a guest post by Mauritius Nagelmueller: Access to justice continues to be an issue within the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) today, especially for developing countries. To keep the promise of a fairer trading system, developing country participation in the DSB needs to be improved, since the relationships

Trade and Gender Politics

Canadian trade politics has a very different focus than U.S. trade politics does: The strongest opposition to including issues such as gender equality in discussions over the North American Free Trade Agreement has come not from the United States but from within Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday.

Will the EU Split Trade and Investment Protection?

This is from Politico: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker aims to solve one of the greatest weaknesses of EU trade policy by proposing fast-track ratification of trade deals that would eliminate the need for approval by some 40 parliaments across Europe. ... Building on the momentum of a landmark deal with