International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

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

Price Controls and GATT Article III

From Reuters: Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki has refused to pass into law a bill that would have returned the country to fixing essential food and fuel prices, a policy abandoned in the 1990s in favour of economic liberalisation. In June, Kenya's parliament passed a bill with

Concerns about Overseas Land Investment

Recall the concern about companies buying up land in developing countries for agricultural purposes (see here and here). Apparently, it's not just developing countries who are worried. This is from some discussion in the New Zealand government: Overseas Investment Rules—New Zealand - China Free Trade Agreement 2.

The Future of the WTO

Some big names will weigh in on this weighty issue at a conference in DC, on Sep. 23: The Future of the WTO A conference presented by American University Washington College of Law, the Emerging Dynamic Global Economies (EDGE) Network, and the German Marshall Fund (GMF) Is the WTO ready

USTR Job

In the Office of the General Counsel: The Office of the General Counsel at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Executive Office of the President, is seeking an attorney with experience in international trade law, trade litigation and negotiation. Incumbent provides legal support for USTR personnel in

Call for Papers: 2011 ILA Asia-Pacific Regional Conference

The Chinese (Taiwan) Society of International Law is pleased to hold the International Law Association (ILA) Asia-Pacific Regional Conference from May 29 to June 1, 2011 in Taipei, Taiwan. The theme of the conference will be Contemporary International Law Issues in the Asia Pacific: Opportunities and Challenges. Paper and panel

Export Subsidies and Currency Undervaluation

Speaking of export subsidies, the U.S. Department of Commerce has rejected an argument that China's currency undervaluation should be considered an export subsidy under U.S. countervailing duty law: Regarding Petitioners’ allegation that China’s currency regime confers a de jure specific export subsidy, the cited foreign