International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

Balancing Trade and the Environment

From a European Commission press release: On Monday 24 January, the Korean Ministry of Environment made a public announcement of a number of adjustments that will be introduced in a new regulation on car CO2 emissions and fuel efficiency. These follow consultations launched by the Korean Government on a draft

The Role of Intent in WTO Non-Discrimination Obligations

I thought this was a good question from the panel in the U.S. - Tuna Labeling (DS381) dispute: 111. To the United States: Please clarify the relevance of your arguments relating to the justification of the measure in terms of dolphin protection, such as the arguments related to the

"China’s Currency Isn’t Our Problem"

That's from Mark Wu, writing in the NY Times. But just to be clear, he is not saying that China's currency policies are not a problem, but rather that they are everyone's problem, not just a problem for the U.S.: China’s currency

WTO Dispute Submissions: USTR Posting of Other Government's Submissions

I don't know if this is new, but it's the first time I have noticed it. USTR seems to be posting the non-confidential version of other governments' submissions in disputes against the U.S. The executive summary of the Philippines' first written submission in

"there is not a system of precedent within the WTO dispute settlement system and panels are not bound by Appellate Body reasoning"

That's from the panel in U.S. - Zeroing (Korea) (DS402), circulated today. Here's the full context (without footnotes): 7.29 Korea relies upon the Appellate Body report in US – Softwood Lumber V to argue that the United States acted inconsistently with the first sentence of

The U.S. Record in NAFTA Chapter 11 Cases: Still Undefeated

Over the week-end, the State Department announced the following: On January 12, 2011, a three-member NAFTA arbitration tribunal rejected a claim against the United States filed by Grand River Enterprises Six Nations, Ltd., a Canadian corporation, and Jerry Montour, Kenneth Hill and Arthur Montour Jr., members of Canadian First Nations,

Location Subsidies for Solar Panel Production

From the NY Times: Aided by at least $43 million in assistance from the government of Massachusetts and an innovative solar energy technology, Evergreen Solar emerged in the last three years as the third-largest maker of solar panels in the United States. But now the company is closing its main

Institutional Balance at the WTO

The idea of an "institutional balance" between the legislative, executive and judicial organs of the WTO came up in the India - Quantitative Restrictions and Turkey - Textiles cases. On this issue, see Frieder Roessler's piece entitled "The Institutional Balance between the Judicial and the

Dani Rodrik Wants to Restrict Policy Space

Well, for the most part he doesn't. He says: When international cooperation does “succeed,” it spawns rules that are either toothless or reflect the preferences of only the more powerful states. The Basle rules on capital requirements and the World Trade Organization’s rules on subsidies, intellectual property,

Tuna-Dolphin: The NAFTA-WTO Dispute Settlement Conflict

I've mentioned the NAFTA-WTO dispute settlement conflict aspect of the U.S. - Tuna II (DS381) case before (see here and here). Unfortunately, I'm in a little over my head on that issue. I prefer to focus on the substantive aspects (DSC subscribers only) of the