Simon Lester

Having mentioned some Canada - EU investment text tension the other day, let me follow-up with some additional notes on Canadian happenings in investment law. First, some Canadian groups are challenging the signed, but not yet ratified, Canada - China investment treaty in domestic court: If Canadian legislators do sign

Call for Candidates: DISSETTLE PhD Fellowships in Economics Applications are invited for three Researchers at early stages of their career to join the Warsaw node of the DISSETTLE network as PhD candidates in Economics from August/September 2013 or at an earlier date to be agreed The recruited people would

Here are some Gallup poll numbers on Americans' feelings about trade: Of course, the question is terribly phrased.  It contrasts "growth through exports" with a "threat from imports."  It has mercantilism embedded in it! But nevertheless, the most recent polling is kind of surprising.  The

Canada and the EU are having some trouble, apparently: A set of leaked documents obtained by The Canadian Press show Canada and the European Union are still far apart in deciding how much power investors should have under their pending free-trade agreement. A Feb. 7 draft of the investment text

This NY Times article about Iceland's geothermal energy is fascinating from a trade and investment perspetive. Basically, Iceland has lots of cheap, clean geothermal energy.  They currently use it to attract investment.  And they may lay a long cable so that they can export it: the power company

Inside U.S. Trade reports that some agriculture groups are upset with the idea of creating a special exception for tobacco products in the TPP, as has been proposed, because of the precedent it might set in other policy areas.  They argue: unlike health-related exceptions consistently included in trade agreements

From my friends at the JIEL: Editorial Assistant Position with the Journal of International Economic Law (JIEL) Professor John H. Jackson, University Professor of Law at Georgetown Law Center, is currently collecting recommendations or applications from persons who might wish to take on the position of Editorial Assistant to the

Many people (or at least, many holders of intellectual property and their advocates) are concerned about how Antigua might use cross-retaliation under TRIPS, in relation to the U.S. - Gambling case, to steal U.S. intellectual property. I still haven't heard anything concrete about what Antigua is

Here's a guest post by frequent commenter Aaron Cosbey of IISD, on a potentially very interesting SPS dispute: In a letter sent Feb. 19 to Ron Kirk, USTR, thirty-three US senators urged him to use “all enforcement tools available” to address Russia’s recent “ban” on US pork,

Before getting into the substance of the Seal Products dispute, let me take this opportunity to thank Rob for all of his reporting on the panel meetings.  I don't think I've ever come across such a detailed analysis of this part of the panel process.  I