Simon Lester

From Reuters: Europe secured an historic agreement to draft a new treaty for deeper economic integration in the euro zone on Friday ... Twenty-six of the 27 EU leaders agreed to pursue a tougher budget discipline regime with automatic sanctions for deficit sinners in the single currency area ... "This is

From USTR: Today, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced that the United States is requesting that the European Union (EU) enter into consultations regarding the notification it made on December 1, 2011, claiming to have fully complied with the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that subsidization of Airbus aircraft

The RDC v. Guatemala ICSID hearing can be viewed online here for the next couple days. Luke Peterson explains the facts: In 1997 RDC won a tender to operate Guatemala’s newly-privatized national railway. A concession agreement concluded with RDC’s local affiliate, Ferrovias Guatemala (FVG),  required FVG to rehabilitate

Here's an excerpt from an article by economist Mark Perry, arguing that Chinese currency manipulation is good for Americans: 1. China's currency manipulation is a form of foreign aid, and to the direct advantage of millions of U.S. consumers, especially low-income groups, and to the

The last two posts deal with the issue of China's non-market economy status under WTO rules.  I've been reluctant to weigh in on this, as there is a lot I don't know about the issue.  So, instead of taking a position, let me ask

Over at vox, trade lawyer Bernard O'Connor argues that the end of China's NME status might be further off than many people think: There is nothing in the WTO rules, or elsewhere, to provide that China automatically gets market-economy status in 2016. The idea that it

The Notification of Claim in the Philip Morris/Plain Packaging BIT claim is available from Australia DFAT here: http://www.dfat.gov.au/foi/downloads/dfat-foi-11-20550.pdf Here's an excerpt: (b) Specific contraventions of the Hong Kong-Australia BIT 44. The effect of plain packaging leglslalion, and for the

From Simon Evenett and Global Trade Alert, here is some data on who has been most protectonist recently: Which countries have inflicted the most harm? Certain emerging markets and European nations