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Simon Lester

Simon Lester

Co-founder of WorldTradeLaw.net and China Trade Monitor. Non-resident fellow at the Baker Institute.

http://simonlester.com

DS461 is Confusing

Compliance review in the DS461 dispute, Colombia - Textiles, is proceeding in the strangest order I can remember seeing. Keep in mind that Panama was the complainant and Colombia was the respondent in the underlying dispute. Here's the timeline of the compliance part: February 9, 2017: Panama proposes suspension

Keystone XL Part 2: Nebraska

As I mentioned here last week, TransCanada's NAFTA Chapter 11 claim is now over, after the State Department issued a Presidential permit for building the Keystone XL pipeline. The transcript of President Trump talking about this with TransCanada's CEO is here, and the ICSID web site

President Trump on ISDS (Sort Of)

OK, not really on ISDS, but touching on ISDS to a very slight degree. Here's what he said a couple days ago: I’ve cleared the way for the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines -- and added a requirement that American pipelines be constructed with American steel. That

Should the U.S. Have a Model Trade Agreement?

This is from Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross at his confirmation hearing (sorry about the all caps -- that's how it was at the link and I don't feel like retyping it): BUT I WOULD HOPE THAT IF CONFIRMED I CAN CONTRIBUTE TOWARD DESIGNING KIND OF A

Lighthizer's Responses to Senate Questions

Here are a few answers from USTR nominee Robert Lighthizer to written questions from Senators (via Inside US Trade): The European Union is the top export markets for the United States. At the same time, U.S. businesses and farmers face significant barriers to the EU market. The Obama Administration

What To Make of the G20?

This is from the FT: Finance ministers from the world’s biggest economies have dropped pledges to renounce protectionism in a meeting marked by tension over trade between the US and others including China. G20 finance ministers meeting in the German resort town of Baden-Baden noted the importance of

Trade Deficits vs. Imports

This is also from Todd Tucker's report: ... The U.S. trade deficits with Mexico and China went up after trade deals were finalized with both countries. Summarizing the research that uses such deficit-based measures (and attempting to control for trade displacement he believes would have happened anyway

Are Tariffs Low?

This is from the Todd Tucker progressive trade policy vision that I mentioned in the last post: ... The benefits of international cooperation on fighting tax evasion, monopoly power, unstable financial markets, climate change, and macroeconomic imbalances from misaligned currencies far outstrip even the most optimistic projections for agreements like the

What Is the Progressive Vision for Trade Policy?

Progressives might disagree among themselves on what they want out of trade policy, but the vision of one particular progressive, long-time friend of this blog Todd Tucker, is here. First, let me say that I love the title of his report: "The Sustainable Equitable Trade Doctrine: Building Progressive

UK Trade Options Beyond 2019

The UK Parliament International Trade Committee has issued a report on "UK Trade Options Beyond 2019." There are lots of interesting items in there. Here is the section on dispute rules in a UK-EU FTA: Dispute resolution 95.A key consideration regarding the terms of a UK-