Simon Lester

Most of this blog's readers are probably aware that the debate over international investment rules can get pretty heated.  The supporters fight hard to beat back any criticism; the critics get very frustrated over perceived corporate influence and bias. I'm a bit of an outsider to

UNCTAD has a recent paper which discusses options for reform of the investor-state system. Here's one possible path they set out: 3. Limiting investor access to ISDS This option envisages narrowing down the range of situations in which investors may resort to ISDS. This could be done

A number of people have suggested that a good way to approach the US-EU trade talks is to use the texts that each side has recently completed with Korea, in order to see where the similarities and differences are.  In that regard, my friends at Sidley have prepared a

From the Washington Post: The leftist government of Ecuador, under pressure from the Obama administration for considering a request for sanctuary from the American intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, announced Thursday that it will back out of a preferential trade pact with the United States that top Ecuadoran officials say is

This is from Kim Elliott: If President Obama and new U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman were serious about improving working conditions in Bangladesh—and about “working to foster development through trade,” as Ambassador Froman said at his swearing in—they would do the opposite of what they are doing.

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.

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

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