Simon Lester

Law professor Leon Trakman writes about China's "prolifering investment treaty program": Notwithstanding China’s endorsement of investor-state arbitration more than a decade ago, only one investor claim has been initiated against it and it was withdrawn.  This does not necessarily mean that foreign investors will not

Here's a letter sent by a number of members of congress -- including frequent trade critic Mike Michaud -- to President Obama relating to the TPP: August 2, 2012 The Honorable Barack Obama President of the United States 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President: Rules-based

Here is a table showing WTO complaints (consultations requests) for 2004-2012: YearNumber of Standard DSU Complaints, by year 2012 14 2011 8 2010 17 2009 14 2008 19 2007 13 2006 20 2005 12 2004 19 Here's a similar table for "matters", which is a subjective

Over at the European Law Blog, Jess Lawrence provides a good summary of a recent ECJ case: Last week’s Xinanchem judgment, however, is a significant step along the path toward normalized trade relations between China and the EU. In this case, which Advocate General Kokott called “of fundamental importance

I did a post on this on the Cato blog here.  Here's an IELP version.  (You can see the difference in tone with what I say on this blog!) We now have the technical details of the Olympic uniform controversy, as the proposed Senate legislation is available.   Some

I'm reposting this because the submission deadline is coming up.  From the ASIL/IEcLIG: 2012 Biennial Interest Group Conference: Re-Conceptualizing International Economic Law: Bridging the Public/Private Divide George Washington University Law School Washington D.C., USA November 29-December 1, 2012 I.         Conference Theme The ASIL International Economic

We are looking for a full-time research assistant at Cato's trade policy center.  Here are the details: The Cato Institute seeks a research assistant to support the efforts of its  trade scholars, who focus on educating the public about the benefits of free  trade and the costs of

From a speech by WTO DG Pascal Lamy: Growing  interdependence among nations, as well as growing consumer awareness, have  certainly focused greater attention on NTMs [non-tariff measures]. As the use of NTMs increases, the  potential for friction is likely to increase. A number of high-profile disputes  have already arisen around

The trend continues, this time under the GATS.  This is from yesterday's China - Electronic Payment Services panel report: 7.702 In the light of the above, we consider that a likeness determination should be based on arguments and evidence that pertain to the competitive relationship of the