Simon Lester

The big trade news from today is that President Obama has decided to exclude Bangladesh from the GSP program: As part of this year’s review, the Administration also considered petitions to withdraw or suspend certain countries’ eligibility for GSP benefits based on statutory criteria, including whether a country is

From the NY Times: In recent months, Mr. Correa’s government has been in Washington, lobbying to retain preferential treatment for some key Ecuadorean products. But that favored status, which means keeping thousands of jobs in Ecuador and cheaper goods for American consumers, could be among the first casualties if

From a climate change speech today by President Obama: And I'm directing my administration to launch negotiations toward global free trade in environmental goods and services, including clean energy technology, to help more countries skip past the dirty phase of development and join a global low-carbon economy.  They

It's not just rich countries who defend investor-state.  This is from the Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and Industry, in the context of the TPP: I. Investor – State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) and Sovereignty  * On the issue of ISDS, foreign investors are drawn to Malaysia not only by economic

A couple months ago, I quoted Article 27.1 of the TRIPS Agreement, and then asked: Why shouldn't countries discriminate in relation to patents based on the field of technology?  Aren't some patents more valuable to society than others?  Aren't patents for pharmaceuticals more

I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but seems like maybe it was Samsung. This is from Wind Power Monthly: The green energy deal between Ontario and the South Korean  manufacturer was signed in 2010 but has been subject to a number of  revisions since. The contract has

There are a number of terms in the trade field that bug me because of their lack of clarity.  Different people use terms in different ways, and that makes for an ambiguous public discussion of the issues.  One example of this problem is the term "market access." The

By the way, it turns out some blog comments are being sent to a "comment spam" folder. My apologies if that has happened to you.  A comment I just discovered mentions a 2012 study about consumer opinion on mandatory country of origin labeling, a summary of which is

I feel like there's a trade complaint in here somewhere, but I'm not sure exactly what it is (it probably involves looking closely at GATS commitments): A European effort to bar the use of potentially hazardous ship recyclers in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh has run aground,

Here's an excerpt from a letter by Senator Elizabeth Warren to USTR nominee Mike Froman: While I have no doubt that the President's commitment to openness is genuine, I am concerned about the Administration's record of transparency regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Specifically, I am