Simon Lester

Todd Tucker points me to this from the NY Times: Shut out from borrowing in traditional markets, Ecuador turned to China to fill the void. PetroChina, the government-backed oil company, lent Petroecuador $1 billion in August 2009 for two years at 7.25 percent interest. Within a year, more

Just recently, I wondered why Canada needs an Agreement on Internal Trade.  Doesn't, or at least shouldn't, its constitution provide for internal free trade?  Well, it appears that someone has decided to push this issue in Canadian courts: A man whose drive from New Brunswick to

This is from the University of New South Wales (UNSW): The CIBEL (China International Business and Economic Law) Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship is an opportunity for early career researchers of exceptional calibre who have completed their doctorate (PhD or SJD) in the last five years to undertake research in a

Australia will have mandatory country of origin labelling for food soon: Australia will introduce mandatory country-of-origin food labeling from 2016, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Tuesday, a move given impetus by a hepatitis outbreak earlier in the year blamed on contaminated berries from China. Under the new

It should be obvious to long-time readers that I am concerned about policy space and regulatory autonomy under trade and investment agreements.  However, I have doubts that the "right to regulate" is a good way to describe the issue: Talk of "rights" can be unproductive

This is from Canada's Premiers (a group made up of Canada’s 13 provincial and territorial Premiers.) Premiers also announced the coming into force of an improved Person-to-Government dispute settlement process under the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT). The new dispute process includes the introduction of

This is from Lorand Bartels, in the latest AJIL: The Chapeau of the General Exceptions in the WTO GATT and GATS Agreements: A Reconstruction ... Conclusions This article argues that the Appellate Body has misunderstood the chapeau and that, in particular, there is no analytic, structural, or even thematic difference between

Let's say California is experiencing a serious drought. And let's say companies are bottling and selling municipal water from California. And let's say that the price set by the government for the purchase of this water is low enough that it contributes to consumption

This is from Inside US Trade: In Tie Vote, ITC Find U.S. Producers Are Injured By Chinese Tire Imports In a victory for the United Steelworkers (USW) union, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on Tuesday (July 14) issued a final determination that domestic tire producers are being