Simon Lester

This is from the FT: The Trump administration is exploring alternatives to taking trade disputes to the World Trade Organisation in what would amount to the first step away from a system that Washington helped to establish more than two decades ago. Incoming officials have asked the US Trade Representative’

Over on twitter, my friend Colin Brown and I were discussing exceptions clauses in international investment agreements.  When I suggested that it was important to have such exceptions apply to the fair and equitable treatment obligation, he asked, "but why would one need an exception from failure to provide

Details are here. Some highlights: * The deadline to apply is Wednesday 8 March. * You will not be alone. It says, "NUMBER OF POSTS: Up to 17" * Not that I am buying this, but it says, "For those working full-time, you will be expected to work a five-day

This is from the CBC: The first Canadian troops will arrive in Latvia in June, kicking off a much-anticipated NATO deployment to restrain potential Russian ambitions in eastern Europe, Gen. Jonathan Vance said Friday. Roughly 450 Canadians will form the backbone and leadership of a multinational battle group that will

This is from Inside US Trade: Trump administration officials this week defended the current methodologies applied to collect and present U.S. trade data and statistics, and dismissed as “completely inaccurate” a report by the Wall Street Journal that claimed U.S. agencies are considering changing those methodologies. Last week&

From Politico: America’s relationship with the World Trade Organization is about to get a lot more complicated. President-elect Donald Trump already has threatened to withdraw from the Geneva-based organization, but his selection of Robert Lighthizer to be the next U.S. Trade Representative last week increases the odds that

As of Monday, when Russia filed an appeal in the DS479 dispute, there were seven ongoing WTO appeals. That will end soon, as the Appellate Body is scheduled to circulate its report in the Russia - Pigs case by February 23, but I'm going to declare here on

From the WSJ: The Trump administration is considering changing the way it calculates U.S. trade deficits, a shift that would make the country’s trade gap appear larger than it had in past years, according to people involved in the discussions. The leading idea under consideration would exclude from

From the NY Times: Cookies and sugary drinks served at government meetings are about to go away. So are imported noodles and canned fish served in tourist bungalows. Taking their place? Local coconuts, lobsters and lime juice. While many governments struggle to ban soda to curb obesity, the tiny Torba

Canadian heartthrob and panda-lover (and Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau was in DC yesterday to meet with President Trump, and there were some brief discussions of trade: PRESIDENT TRUMP:  ... We have a very outstanding trade relationship with Canada.  We’ll be tweaking it.  We’ll be doing certain things that are