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Simon Lester

Simon Lester

Co-founder of WorldTradeLaw.net and China Trade Monitor. Non-resident fellow at the Baker Institute.

http://simonlester.com

Some Very Old "Likeness" Arguments

I'll tell you how old at the end of the post. The issue was whether Russia hemp was a "like article" to Manila hemp, in the MFN context. Here's one side of the argument: The turning point in the treaty will be found in

More NAFTA Chapter 19 Zeroing

Last year, a NAFTA Chapter 19 panel found that zeroing violates U.S. law. See this post for details. The panel thus remanded the matter back to Commerce to re-calculate the dumping margins without zeroing. Commerce did take some action, but the respondents felt that it was insufficient, and

Domestic Content Requirements under the Ontario Feed-In Tariff

As reported last week, the EU has joined Japan in its WTO challenge to domestic content requirements in Ontario's feed-in tariff measure. The EU consultations request is here. I wish I had more to say about the substance of this case. It would help if I knew

Coals to Newcastle, Chopsticks to China?

From the Economist: ASK someone to write down all the differences between China and rural Georgia and his hand will fall off before he’s halfway done. So let us restrict ourselves to the vista: cranes, skyscrapers, spanking new rail networks and smog: China. Barbecue restaurants, red clay and trees:

The International Economic Law of "Seasteading"

I stumbled across this very interesting news article: Pay Pal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel has given $1.25 million to an initiative to create floating libertarian countries in international waters, according to a profile of the billionaire in Details magazine. Thiel has been a big backer of

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

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,