Simon Lester

Mexico has moved forward in the Tuna WTO proceedings, announcing its proposed amount of retaliation: In accordance with Article 22.2, Mexico requests authorization from the DSB to suspend the application to the United States of tariff concessions and other related obligations in the goods sector under GATT 1994 in

Here is an exchange from a New Zealand parliamentary hearing on the TPP: Clark: On that point, the non-tariff barrier portion of the argument—the analysis, or the modelling, seems to have gone to a view that, crudely characterised as “Think of a number and then halve it.” in

Here is the abstract of a new paper from Krzysztof Pelc, entitled "Does the Investment Regime Induce Frivolous Litigation?": The treatment of foreign investment has become the most controversial issue in global governance. At the centre of the controversy lies the mechanism of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS)

Apparently, I am going to have to learn a bit more about H-1B visas. They are the subject of a new Indian WTO complaint against the U.S., which I may have something to say about next week. And they came up in last night's Republican presidential

Here is a recent @Trade_EU tweet: "CETA has a fast track system for rejecting unfounded or frivolous investment protection claims – in a matter of weeks!" The CETA provisions they are referring to are the following: Article 8.32 Claims manifestly without legal merit 1. The respondent may,

This is from an article on the EU regulation of certain pesticides, in the latest issue of the Economist: MORE herbicides contain glyphosate, a weedkilling chemical, than any other agent. Monsanto, an agricultural giant, first sold Roundup, a product containing the stuff, to farmers in the 1970s. Since then use

Back in the 1990s, I remember enjoying Paul Krugman's writings about trade policy and globalization.  But now he writes things like this: After all, doesn’t everyone know that protectionism causes recessions? Actually, no. There are reasons to be against protectionism, but that’s not one of them.

This is from Article 8.28, para. 2 of CETA: 2. The Appellate Tribunal may uphold, modify or reverse a Tribunal's award based on: (a) errors in the application or interpretation of applicable law; (b) manifest errors in the appreciation of the facts, including the appreciation of relevant

Todd Weiler is worried that the EU proposals for an investment court -- now in both the (yet-to-be-ratified) CETA and EU-Viet Nam FTA -- could lead to restrictive interpretations that make it too hard to win cases: The changes could lead to a tribunal that is seldom used,