Simon Lester

Everyone reading this blog probably knows that the local content requirements in Ontario's feed-in tariff program have been found to violate WTO rules.  Will the removal of those measures lead to additional trade restrictions?  This is from a decision by the Canadian International Trade Tribunal on injury

If you're eagerly awaiting the CAFTA panel report in the Guatemala labor case, as I am, you will have to wait a bit longer, Inside US Trade reports: The initial, confidential ruling by an arbitral panel on U.S. claims that Guatemala violated the labor chapter of the

On October 12 at Cato, we are hosting an all day conference on the TTIP. Here is an overview: The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations were launched to great fanfare in mid-2013 with the pronouncement that a comprehensive deal would be reached by the end of 2014

From PluriCourts: The 11th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law will take place in Oslo, Norway, from 10 to 12 September 2015. It is hosted by the PluriCourts,  Centre for the Study of the Legitimate Roles of the Judiciary in the Global Order, University of Oslo. The

From Reuters: A European Union ban on imports of seal products not derived from the traditional Inuit seal hunt is legal, the 28-nation bloc's top court ruled on Thursday. The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice rejected an appeal brought by an association representing the interests of

I have a short piece in Bridges Africa on the debate about transparency in trade negotiations.  Here's an excerpt: ... we should expect transparency to a greater extent than it currently exists, but it should be transparency of a different kind than trade critics are demanding. In this regard,

From the Financial Post: As if conditions in Canada’s oilpatch weren’t bad enough, more pain could flow north from Washington, D.C., before the Labour Day long weekend, when President Barack Obama is expected to finally deny a permit to the Keystone XL pipeline. The latest in the

I may be the only non-Canadian following this "free trade under the Canadian constitution" case, but it's really kind of fascinating. Here's a report of some testimony from the hearing: A professor of political history testifying at a hearing over the right to

This is from the Independent: The European Commission has been accused of a cover-up after refusing to release details of talks between its officials and the tobacco industry during negotiations over the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) treaty. Corporate lobbying campaigners published documents that revealed the EU’

In response to the recent NAFTA Chapter 11 Bilcon award, Canada, Mexico and the U.S. all made submissions in the ongoing Mesa arbitration, offering their views on the Bilcon reasoning. One issue they all addressed was whether the national treatment standard covers only nationality-based discrimination: * Canada: "As