Simon Lester

A while back, I wondered what would happen to NAFTA Chapter 19 if the TPP comes into effect.  I can't imagine they would create a TPP equivalent.  But will it get phased out through the TPP, or will that part of the NAFTA be carried over? More significantly,

I'm always hearing about how the TTIP is finally going to address those regulatory trade barriers we have been ignoring all these years.  In general, I'm a bit skeptical: Regulatory trade barriers have been on the agenda of trade negotiations since at least the late 1920s.

Just a quick reminder from the Appellate Body, buried in a footnote in Monday's U.S. - Carbon Steel (India) report, that it still hasn't told us what it thinks of the mandatory/discretionary distinction: 1144 We note that the Appellate Body has "not, as

From a blog post by Google: But sadly, as a result of a new Spanish law, we’ll shortly have to close Google News in Spain. Let me explain why. This new legislation requires every Spanish publication to charge services like Google News for showing even the smallest snippet from

Simon Evenett and Alejandro Jara have a piece at vox criticizing the "settlements" in U.S. - Cotton Subsidies and U.S. - Clove Cigarettes.  Here's an excerpt: During October 2014 two WTO disputes were settled in an extraordinary manner: In both cases the US largely

As we all know, most WTO complaints are successful.  I've got the figures at about 90% for cases in which at least one violation is found. So what happens in those cases where the complaint did not succeed?  What are the various reasons that complaints fail? I can&

A criticism I hear a lot is that the Obama adminstration is not doing enough on trade, in particular in relation to domestic trade politics.  Not having worked in this area, I have trouble evaluating this argument.  How much are they actually doing?  How much should they be doing?  What

By the way, if you want to read more about DSU Article 3.10, which played a key role in the Peru - Agricultural Products panel report Joost described yesterday, see this recent paper by Bregt Natens and Sidonie Descheemaeker: Say it Loud, Say it Clear — Article 3.10 DSU’

This is from last week's Peru - Agricultural Products WTO panel report: 7.525. Peru affirms that, if the Panel finds that the PRS [Price Range System] is inconsistent with its obligations under the WTO agreements, there would be an inconsistency between the FTA (which allows Peru to

This is from Judge Stephen Schwebel: Opponents of investor-state arbitration claim that it faces a “legitimacy crisis.” There are three essential contentions advanced by such critics: (1) tribunals are biased toward multinational enterprises; (2) arbitration is asymmetrical because of investors’ freedom to bring claims against states, while states cannot bring