Simon Lester

There's a lot of talk these days in international economic law -- both in disputes and negotiations -- about the marketing of traditional tobacco products. My sense is that this issue is on its way out, and in the coming years the big issue will be the marketing of e-

We are hosting a discussion at the Cato Institute on the politics of investment treaties in developing countries, on Friday, April 15th at 4:30-6:00. The discussion will take as its starting point a new book by Lauge Poulsen, entitled "Bounded Rationality and Economic Diplomacy: The Politics

In a recent talk at a European Community Studies Association conference in Salzburg on CETA, TTIP and TISA, Lorand Bartels said something along these lines (sorry, no link, but Lorand assures me he said it!): Trade is not the most important value and the GATT exceptions say that other values

Let's say that, eventually, CETA comes into force, and the new version of ISDS with an international investment court tribunal, as well as an appellate tribunal, is in effect. Presumably, the members of these tribunals will need some assistance with their work. Here's where CETA suggests

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