Simon Lester

I mentioned the WTO law of foie gras bans here.  A WTO complaint may be unlikely, but apparently a commerce clause challenge (along with due process challenges as well) has begun.  Here is an excerpt from the complaint: 14 THIRD CAUSE OF ACTION 15 Declaratory Relief - Violation of the

That's the question Rob and Joanna asked here.  Here's how I see it (and by that I mean, here's how I think it should be, not how it currently is in the jurisprudence!). There are three elements to determining whether a measure is discriminatory.

A couple months ago in Cloves, the Appellate Body had the following to say about the "less favourable treatment" standard" of TBT Article 2.1: 215. ... Where the technical regulation at issue does not de jure discriminate against imports, a panel must carefully scrutinize the particular circumstances

In the U.S., everyone is focused on today's health care ruling.  If you can tear yourself away (or if you are from somewhere else and/or just don't care), let me mention the Opinio Juris discussion of an article by Rob Howse and Joanna Langille.

Many years ago, Joel mentioned trade law issues related to Chicago's ban on foie gras.  Perhaps now that a bigger market (California) has passed its own ban, we may see the issue raised at the WTO: TOULOUSE, France -- France's foie gras industry says legislation due

Pretty lukewarm on the EU side, too.  Here is EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht: "The announcement of Presidents Barroso and Obama welcoming the publication of the interim report on how to deepen the transatlantic trade relationship is extremely encouraging. We are now entering the last leg of mapping

Romney supporter (and former USTR) Senator Rob Portman says Romney will push harder for bilateral FTAs, and be tougher on China, than Obama: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would move aggressively to open up more foreign markets for U.S. exports, while getting tougher with China on its trade and

I don't talk about myself much on this blog. It's not that kind of blog. But this seems worth mentioning: As of this past Monday, I am now a trade policy analyst at the Cato Institute.  My Cato webpage is here. Don't worry (in

A guest post from GDB, who is looking for input but wants to remain anonymous: The recent economic sanctions on Iran, culminating with UN SC Resolution 1929 (2010) and the UN Members’ implementing measures, pose some problems of WTO compatibility, to the extent the measures fall under the scope of

Based on this statement by President Obama, I'm not holding my breath: "Today, the United States and the European Union agreed to take the next step in our work towards the possible launching of negotiations on an agreement to strengthen our already very deep trade and investment