Simon Lester

This is from the Washington Post: Liberal advocacy groups are preparing blacklists of candidates for appointments to a Hillary Clinton administration, with one organization even producing opposition research to torpedo contenders they consider too soft on Wall Street or other corporate interests. Planning for a Democratic victory on Nov. 8,

The EU has launched a selection process for the Appellate Body slot that will open up soon: The second and last term in office of Professor Peter Van den Bossche (Belgium) on the WTO Appellate Body is due to expire on 11 December 2017 and a vacancy will arise. The

Are people drawing any lessons from the troubles with CETA? There is still a long way to go with settling the scope of EU trade policy, with a court decision coming and political battles to be fought, and CETA may eventually be fully ratified in its current form. But even

No doubt you have all read about the problems the EU is having with ratifying CETA: After seven years of negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta), talks broke down on Friday. This followed a rejection of the deal by Wallonia. Exercising its right under the Belgian federal

This is from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln: The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has announced the three endowed chairs it will establish as the foundation of the Clayton K. Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance. The institute was launched in 2015 to prepare students to work at a time when national

This is from The Economist: Twentieth-century trade deals slashed tariffs. Newer ones between rich countries, such as CETA, focus on cutting other barriers to trade. After seven years of haggling, European negotiators dream of European toys and electrical products being sold straight to Canadians, without having to go through a

My buddy Bryan Mercurio and I were emailing about the new tobacco carveout in the amended Australia - Singapore FTA, and he suggested that this carveout may violate the fair and equitable treatment obligation.  At first I thought, how would a provision in an investment chapter violate that very chapter?

From the European Society of International Law:International Conference "The Role of the European Parliament in the Conclusion and Implementation of Agreements on International Economic Law Issues"On 9 December 2016, the ESIL IG on International Economic Law in cooperation with the European Parliament will organize an International

Law prof Jelena Bäumler offers the following thoughts on yesterday's decision by the German Federal Constitutional Court on CETA: Yes, but…- for now! The German Federal Constitutional Court’s judgment on CETA On 13 October 2016, the German Federal Constitutional Court (the Court, FCC) issued its much-awaited

Whether or not the TPP ever gets ratified, the idea for a tobacco carveout seems to have taken hold. Via Tania Voon on twitter, I see that Australia and Singapore have agreed to amend their FTA to include a tobacco carveout. Here's the added text (p. 97) ARTICLE