Simon Lester

This is from yesterday's Brazil - Taxation panel report: 7.565. In reviewing the arguments and evidence submitted by Brazil, the Panel considers that Brazil has demonstrated that there is a problem of a "digital divide" in Brazil, and that the problem of the digital divide

This is from the U.S. statement at today's DSB meeting: 7. APPOINTMENT OF APPELLATE BODY MEMBERS: PROPOSAL BY THE EUROPEAN UNION (WT/DSB/W/597/REV.3) Second Intervention The U.S. seems to be saying that it will not work towards filling any Appellate Body vacancies

This is from Inside US Trade: U.S. negotiators are considering a new approach to the controversial investor-state dispute settlement mechanism featuring an opt-in clause that would allow each of the three NAFTA countries to decide whether to use the provision, sources told Inside U.S. Trade. Does that mean

This is from Inside US Trade: U.S. NAFTA negotiators are expected to push a proposal backed by Florida-based producers that would allow seasonal growers to qualify as the domestic industry in trade remedy cases despite not representing 51 percent of the U.S. industry. According to several sources, the

This is from a Presidential Memorandum issued by President Trump today, directing the U.S. Trade Representative to determine "whether to investigate any of China's laws, policies, practices, or actions that may be unreasonable or discriminatory and that may be harming American intellectual property rights, innovation, or

The Washington Post has a transcript of President Trump's January 27 phone call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. Here are some excerpts related to trade: Trump: ... I consider you a friend and I consider Luis, the person working with you, a very smart man. To be very

Law student Ritwik Bhattacharya sends along an interesting short paper on China's non-market economy status, entitled "Three Viewpoints on China's Non-Market Economy Status."  Here's the abstract: On December 15, 2016, China requested consultations with the United States and the European Union, regarding

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has a new op-ed in the WSJ.  One thing he does in the op-ed is include a chart of average applied tariffs for the U.S., EU and China, after which he says this: As the nearby chart shows, China’s tariffs are higher than

At the risk of overdoing it with NAFTA Chapter 19 here on this blog, another question just occurred to me. The bi-national panel system for reviewing domestic AD/CVD decisions started in the Canada - U.S. FTA, and was then brought into NAFTA.  But it has never been used

This is from the WSJ: President Donald Trump said his administration would take its time in making a long-awaited decision on whether to block steel imports, saying “we don’t want to do it at this moment.” Mr. Trump and his Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, had earlier this year said