Simon Lester

I think I can safely assume that everyone has heard about the U.S. government program which uses American internet companies to access the online activities of non-Americans, so I won't get into the details.  Not surprisingly, there have been some concerns expressed by law-makers outside of the

That's the subject of a long-running court battle.  Apparently, during the FTAA talks, USTR wrote a "white paper" in which it offered commentary on the interpretation of the phrase "in like circumstances" in the context of the investment chapter.  The Center for International Environmental

... are posted here: The Secretariat of the WTO is seeking to fill the position of Director, Trade and Environment Division. Serving staff members interested in the position are also invited to apply. and here: The Secretariat of the WTO is seeking to fill the position of Chief Economist and Director,

I don't have a link or an exact quote, but I was watching the confirmation hearing for USTR nominee Mike Froman, and Sen. Sherrod Brown (a trade critic) asked something along these lines:  Given that EU property rights protection is pretty good, do we need investor-state in the

Recall that Japan was one of the complainants in the Ontario feed-in tariff WTO case.  As the Washington Post explains, Japan has a similar program: The tariff, launched in July, obligates utility companies to buy electricity from renewable sources — solar, wind and geothermal, for example — at fixed prices. In most

From my friends at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the World Trade Institute: The Law Faculty of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the World Trade Institute of the University of Bern in Switzerland (WTI), are jointly organizing the second edition of the Summer Programme on International

I'm hearing a lot of complaints these days about trade negotiations not being transparent.  Here are some Global Trade Watch folks writing in the NY Times: THE Obama administration has often stated its commitment to open government. So why is it keeping such tight wraps on the contents

I know some of you are keeping track of the various tit-for-tat trade disputes going on these days.  Here's another, from the NY Times: China’s nouveau riche millionaires, wealthy princelings and bribegiving business executives may soon find their wallets a little thinner: The price tag for French

By now, most of you have probably heard about some rogue GM wheat in Oregon (hopefully any of you who live in that area are staying safe -- keep your head down, and stick to corn-based cereals for a while).  Basically, as I understand it, some genetically engineered wheat was

This is from a draft of the EU TTIP negotiating mandate (available from Inside US Trade): 21. The aim of negotiations on investment will be to negotiate investment liberalisation and protection provisions, including areas of mixed competence, such as portfolio investment, property and expropriation aspects, on the basis of the