Simon Lester

The polls are tightening a bit (gulp), but it still seems likely that Hillary Clinton will be the next U.S. President. If that happens, the choices for who in her administration runs trade policy will be very important. Roughly speaking, I would say the Democratic Party includes three views

From Monday's DSB meeting: Chair's statement on Appellate Body matters The DSB Chair, Ambassador Xavier Carim (South Africa), reminded delegations that the deadline for nominations of candidates to fill the vacancy left by the non-reappointment of Mr Seung Wha Chang is 14 September 2016. He

What would Brexit mean for the UK in relation to past WTO disputes involving the EU? This is from Samuel Lowe: We don’t eat much American beef in the UK. One of the reasons for this is because the EU bans the import of beef sourced from cows pumped

Is TTIP going to be sacrificed to save CETA? That's one interpretation of what's going on right now: German economy minister Sigmar Gabriel triggered a bit of a panic this weekend when he said the talks for a trade accord with the United States have “de

This is a guest post from Ilaria Espa of the World Trade Institute  The third WTO dispute targeting China’s regime of export restrictions on raw materials is around the corner. Between June and August, the US and the EU filed separate requests for consultations, later supplemented (here and here)

If you are interested in trade, tobacco and public health, as I am, law prof Sergio Puig has a new paper on tobacco litigation in international courts. There's a lot in there, and I couldn't possibly discuss everything in this blog post. I'm going

Over at EJIL: Talk!, David Caron and Esme Shirlow comment on the backlash against investment arbitration and international economic law more generally, and say this: For many, the assumption is that investment disputes, absent an arbitration mechanism, will go to the national courts of host States. This has been proposed

This is from Senator Mitch McConnell, as quoted in Inside US Trade: “So TPA -- Trade Promotion Authority -- is in place for the next president whoever that may be and the current agreement, the Trans-Pacific agreement, which has some serious flaws, will not be acted upon this year,” McConnell said

Over in Europe, there is a great deal of controversy over bans on the use of Burqini swimwear: A village in Corsica became the third place in France to ban the Burqini from its beaches Monday after a fight broke out over the weekend over the swimsuit favored by some

Call for Papers: Cognitive Sociology, Culture, and International Law iCourts, Centre of Excellence for International Courts, University of Copenhagen 28-29 April 2017 Workshop Theme The past few decades have seen growth in behavioural approaches in the social sciences. In this new behavioural revolution, cognitive psychology, behavioural economics, and sociologists