Simon Lester

The WTO Secretariat has issued an interesting report on notified quantitative restrictions: 1.1. This report has been prepared at request of the Chairperson of the Committee on Market Access with a view to providing Members with factual information on the notifications of quantitative restrictions (QRs), which have been received

From a recent paper by Hugo Perezcano: Even though the United States committed to — and indeed required — eliminating tariffs and other barriers so that there would be free trade in all goods, it has also failed to live up to its obligations as regards trade in sugar. This breach of

I'm as skeptical about estimates of gains/losses from trade agreements as I am about trade polling.  How many jobs will be added/lost?  How much will GDP rise/fall?  I'm not sure there are any good answers out there, although I think economists should keep

This time from Norway: Norway’s Ministry of Health and Care Services has proposed the imposition of a requirement for all tobacco products to be sold in standardized packaging, according to a World Trade Organization notification. It has not been decided when the measure should be adopted or when it

The Senate half is done.  From Reuters: President Barack Obama scored a major victory on Friday when the U.S. Senate voted to give him "fast-track" powers that would help wrap up negotiations on a 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal central to projecting American influence in Asia. But

Now it's in the UK and EU: Two of the world's biggest tobacco companies have challenged the legality of the UK government's plain packaging regulations. British American Tobacco and Philip Morris filed legal objections at the High Court in London on Friday. They claim

This is from "The Puzzle of Agricultural Exceptionalism in International Trade Policy", by Michael Trebilcock and Kristen Pue: ... Hence, in explaining the resilience of the agricultural sector to efforts to liberalize trade in agricultural products we are left with a rather untidy amalgam of some elements of normative

Norway has just published a new draft model BIT. It offers some explanations here.  Here are some of my thoughts on a few of the provisions. First up, national treatment: ARTICLE [3] NATIONAL TREATMENT 1. Each Party shall accord to investors of the other Party and to their investments, treatment

If you are in or near Madrid, there is an interesting seminar on the WTO and investment arbitration, this Friday, May 22.  Details here and here: Policy development challenges with WTO dispute settlement and international arbitration: why is the interface between trade and investment relevant from a political, economic and