International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

Seals vs. Sardines

From Namibia's statement at the DSB meeting where the Seal Products panel was established for the Norwegian compaint (DS401): 68. Namibia also wished to turn to some specific seals concerns, which highlighted the importance of trade in seal products for Namibia. The seal population in Namibia had grown

Call for Papers for International Arbitration Conference

The Institute for Transnational Arbitration has issued a call for papers for its First Annual Winter Forum, to be held February 2-3, 2012, in San Francisco: THE INSTITUTE FOR TRANSNATIONAL ARBITRATION 1st Annual Winter Forum SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA INTERCONTINENTAL MARK HOPKINS SAN FRANCISCO February 2-3, 2012 CALL FOR PAPERS In

Is China's Currency Policy Protectionist At All?

The Economist isn't so sure: A beefed-up version of the Big Mac index suggests that the Chinese yuan is now close to its fair value against the dollar. More from Scott Lincicome here.

Is China the Biggest Protectionist in History?

From Fred Bergsten: But China and some other emerging markets, especially in its immediate neighborhood, are also violating some of the most fundamental rules of the international economic system, to the great detriment of the United States and many other countries. A cardinal goal of the International Monetary Fund, which

Protectionism and Japan's Tsunami Relief Effort

From USA Today: Almost four months after the March 11 tsunami destroyed their home, Kazuko Abe moved her family of four into temporary housing in July. "It doesn't matter to me who built the houses, I just wish they could have been quicker," said Abe, 66,

Junior IEL Scholars Forum

From the IELIG: The International Economic Law Interest Group (IELIG) is pleased to announce its inaugural "Safe Spaces Roundtable" for junior scholars. The Safe Spaces Roundtable will provide junior scholars with detailed feedback from more senior colleagues on early drafts of their work. The Roundtable will be closed

Using Trade Law to Enforce Investment Law

From Reuters: A U.S. company plans to ask the Obama administration for help in recovering more than $230 million it says it is owned by the government of Argentina, an attorney for the company said on Monday. Stephen Kho, a lawyer with the Akin Gump law firm, said it

The Environmental Kuznets Curve and GATT Article XX

From last month's China - Exportation of Raw Materials panel report: 7.551 We now turn to analyse the second step in China's argument about the long-term benefits of export restrictions on EPR products, namely that there is a strong link between higher growth and environmental

Sea Turtles, Dolphins, Seals ... and Sharks?

Marine life has played an important role in GATT/WTO dispute settlement. Here's an argument for bringing sharks into the mix: Oceana, the largest international advocacy group working solely to protect the world’s oceans, called on the United States government today to ban the import of shark

Investor-State: Learning as We Go

On SSRN, here's the abstract of a paper entitled "When the Claim Hits: Bilateral Investment Treaties and Bounded Rational Learning," by Lauge Skovgaard Poulsen and Emma Aisbett: Using the international investment regime as its point of departure, the paper introduces notions of bounded rationality to the