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Simon Lester

GATT Article XX(b) and Scrap Products

Keeping the GATT Article XX discussion going, this Article XX issue may be one of the more difficult ones. Are there special considerations under Article XX when the product at issue is a "used" one, such as retreaded tires, waste products, or "scrap" products? Can you

More on GATT Article XX and Non-GATT Agreements

This is from an article by Christopher Tran, an LLB student at Melbourne Law School: The applicability of GATT, Art XX beyond the GATT itself has previously been left open in two panel reports. More recently, in China – Audiovisual Products, the Appellate Body held that GATT, Art XX could be

GATT Article XX and Natural Resource Sovereignty

Here's another GATT Article XX issue in the China - Exportation of Raw Materials case: the role of "sovereignty" in interpreting Article XX. With the caveat that this is just the complainants' characterization of China's argument, and I haven't seen China&

GATT Article XX and Non-GATT Agreements

A couple months ago, I mentioned that the China - Exportation of Raw Materials dispute was getting underway, and that I would come back to the dispute when GATT Article XX came up. USTR recently posted the complainants' oral statement in the case on its web site, and it

Do Trade Deficits Affect Economic Growth?

This is from Marginal Revolution: FYI, a loyal MR reader and commentator, writes to me: I would like to suggest a topic for your blog: the way imports are used in the GDP calculation. To me it makes no sense that we would decrease our GDP every time something is

The Clean Energy Subsidy Wars Begin

When I saw this NY Times article the other day, I thought, it's just a matter of time before there are some big trade cases on clean energy subsidies: Until very recently, Hunan Province was known mainly for lip-searing spicy food, smoggy cities and destitute pig farmers. Mao

When Governments Discriminate Against Domestic Products

From the Washington Post: The last major GE factory making ordinary incandescent light bulbs in the United States is closing this month, marking a small, sad exit for a product and company that can trace their roots to Thomas Alva Edison's innovations in the 1870s. "Now what&

Dani Rodrik: Chinese Currency Polices are Bad for Poor Countries

Dani Rodrik says: ... China’s currency policies not only undercut the competitiveness of African and other poor regions’ industries; they also undermine those regions’ fundamental growth engines. What poor nations get out of Chinese mercantilism is, at best, temporary growth of the wrong kind. So Chinese mercantilism is, on balance,

"Best Treatment," "Individual" Claims and the "Class of One"

I've mentioned before (most recently, here) that I'm skeptical of applying a "best treatment" / "individual comparison" standard to non-discrimination in the IEL context (I'm more concerned with WTO rules than with investment treaties, but my views apply to the latter

UNCTAD World Investment Forum

Streaming live from China: UNCTAD is having a day specifically focusing on International Investment Agreements (IIAs) - http://unctad-worldinvestmentforum.org/page/about_wif. Starting 10am Bejing time on Tuesday morning (10pm DC time on Monday evening), UNCTAD will be doing a live stream of the IIA conference as well as