Simon Lester

Back when I lived in Geneva, a Canadian friend was explaining Trudeaumania to me.  Pierre Trudeau was this charismatic political leader, apparently, who was kind of like a rock star in Canada.  Just for fun, I said something along the lines of, "so he was like the Canadian version

When the TPP text is made public, no doubt lots of people will explore in excruciating detail each and every word of the "carve-out" of tobacco from the investment provisions.  Until then, we can talk about the reductions in tariffs on tobacco products, set out here by USDA:

If you look at the list of Article 21.3(c) arbitration awards, you will see that in all 32 awards, the arbitrator was a current or former Appellate Body Member. Nothing in the DSU requires this, but it developed as a practice, and that's the way it

This is from Politico: President Barack Obama's signature trade deal - the Trans-Pacific Partnership - may not get taken up by the GOP-run Congress until after the 2016 elections, senior Republican and Democratic aides said Wednesday. Mike Sommers, chief of staff for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), said at

From Bloomberg: Hillary Clinton says Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact doesn’t meet her criteria for dealing with currency manipulation, “one of the main reasons for job loss going back several decades.” * NOTE: Democratic presidential candidate makes comments in Henderson, Nev., after event where she was endorsed by International Union of

In my last post, I worried that any trade and TPP questions for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic debate would not be very productive.  And voila: ANDERSON COOPER: You were against same-sex marriage. Now you're for it. You defended President Obama's immigration policies. Now you say

Last Wednesday, we all heard Hillary Clinton announce her opposition to -- or at least her deep skepticism about -- the TPP.  That triggered many accusations of flip-flopping, as she had previously supported it.  Now this Tuesday, CNN will be hosting the first Democratic debate, where she will no doubt

The 10th Annual Academy of WTO Law & Policy will be held at Georgetown Law Center, November 16-20, 2015. Here's an overview: The Academy is an intensive professional development program on the law and policy of the World Trade Organization (WTO).  It examines the legal obligations and policy

At least based on what she has heard about it so far.  From Vox: In a major blow to President Obama's trade agenda, Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton has come out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In an interview with PBS's Judy Woodruff, Clinton stressed that she

When it became clear there would be a tobacco carveout from TPP ISDS, I rushed out this critique: I'd be happy to carve ISDS out of trade agreements (or just apply the tobacco carveout proposal to all measures!), but I can't understand why tobacco would be