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Simon Lester

Simon Lester

Co-founder of WorldTradeLaw.net and China Trade Monitor. Non-resident fellow at the Baker Institute.

http://simonlester.com

Japan, the TPP, and a Time Warp

Congressman Sander Levin wants to get tough on Japan if they are going to be part of the TPP talks. He gets into some details here (from Inside U.S. Trade): III. Current and Future Non-Tariff Barriers (Other than Currency Manipulation) Existing Barriers. Japan will agree to eliminate all

Implementing the Clove Cigarettes Case

From the U.S. statement at today's DSB meeting: • To come into compliance with the DSB’s recommendations and rulings, the United States has taken and is taking a number of actions in relation to menthol cigarettes. Today, the United States is announcing several actions by U.S.

Direct Car Sales and GATT Article III:4

Some of you may have heard of Tesla, a car company that makes high-end electric cars (if you are thinking of this 1980s band, you have the wrong Tesla). What you may not have heard is that they are using a novel sales method, under which they bypass dealers

A “WTO Remedies Implementation Committee” in the Gambling Dispute

This is from a press release I just received from the Antigua Gambling case team: The Government of Antigua and Barbuda today announced the formation of a select committee charged with overseeing the implementation process as the nation seeks to suspend certain concessions and other obligations relating to United States

Will TTIP Raise or Lower Regulatory Standards?

Some people worry that the TTIP will cause governments to engage in more regulation. Here is Fred Smith of the Competitive Enterprise Institute: the EU’s economic and political weight is comparable to that of the United States, and in many areas, existing EU regulations are more burdensome than America’

Reading the Tea Leaves on Investor-State in the TTIP

During the closing press conference at the TTIP last week, someone asked the lead negotiators a question along the lines of, "Will there be investor-state in the TTIP, and how will you address concerns with subversion of democracy?" You can see their answer at 29:08 of

The Number of WTO Disputes: Regression to the Mean

Last year about this time, I was talking about how many more WTO disputes there were than normal. We ended up with the most WTO disputes in a long time: 27. With the latest WTO complaint (the EU's complaint against Russia's car recycling fee), I thought

The Plain Packaging Dispute: A Mock Trial

This sounds like it was a lot of fun: In a dry run of one of the biggest legal battles in public health, an advocate for Australia's tobacco policies has delivered seemingly strong rebuttals of objections likely to be mounted in a landmark case at the World Trade

U.S. Compliance in the Tuna-Dolphin Case

The final U.S. regulation related to labelling of dolphin-safe tuna, taken in response to last year's DSB ruling, is now out: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/07/09/2013-16508/enhanced-document-requirements-to-support-use-of-the-dolphin-safe-label-on-tuna-products If

Why Is Global Trade Watch Protectionist?

I understand why Global Trade Watch is concerned that some trade rules interfere with domestic policy autonomy and the ability to regulate. I don't agree with everything they say in this regard, but I have some sympathy for some of their views. (As seen in the last post)