International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

California's High Speed Rail and Foreign Companies

The Economist reports on a California law that may make it hard for certain foreign companies to bid on high speed rail contracts: LAWMAKERS in California voted unanimously on June 29th to approve a proposed law which would force any company bidding for contracts to build the state’s new

Responses to Anti-Dumping Measures

From BusinessWeek: Beijing blocked imports of soybean oil from Argentina in response to anti-dumping investigations by the South American country on Chinese goods ranging from steel pipes to textiles, according to a state-backed trade group. Isn't this a clear violation of DSU Article 23? Shouldn't concerns

Is the Aircraft Dispute All About the Threat from China?

From the LA Times: The issues raised by both [WTO Aircraft] cases are important, and together they should help clarify what governments can and cannot do to support the aviation industry. Tougher limits on subsidies would assist both Boeing and Airbus — they can raise capital relatively cheaply to develop new

Krugman on Protectionism

He has been a little unclear at times, but I think this Paul Krugman post, which is about his view that Hayek misunderstood the sources of the Depression, summarizes his (Krugman's) position nicely: Just to be clear, I don’t think the Smoot-Hawley tariff was a good thing

Mankiw on Chinese Currency Issues

From a NY Times article: What is the trilemma in international finance? It stems from the fact that, in most nations, economic policy makers would like to achieve these three goals: • Make the country’s economy open to international flows of capital. Capital mobility lets a nation’s citizens diversify

The Aircraft Report: No Balancing of Producer Harm with Benefits to Consumers

I've talked before about whether the harms to domestic producers caused by foreign subsidies might be outweighed by benefits to domestic consumers. As I said there, even if they are, the distortions to production may mean the subsidies are nevertheless bad for the domestic and global economy. But

China Currency Issues: Is Anything Ever Going to Happen?

Reuters reports: The Obama administration declined to label China a currency manipulator in a long-delayed report on Thursday ... OK, so Congress is definitely going to act now, right? "This report is as disappointing as it is unsurprising," U.S. Senator Charles Schumer , a Democrat, declared. "It'

China Moves Up the Economic Ladder

From the AP: Factory workers demanding better wages and working conditions are hastening the eventual end of an era of cheap costs that helped make southern coastal China the world's factory floor. A series of strikes over the past two months have been a rude wakeup call for

WTO Boeing Panel Report Delayed

From AFP: The World Trade Organization has decided to delay until September at the latest the release of its ruling on European complaints over US subsidies for aerospace giant Boeing, the EU said Thursday. "The European Commission is extremely disappointed to learn of this additional delay into the issuing

Nicolas Diebold on Non-Discrimination

I'm going to try to come back to this for more detailed analysis when I have more time, but at first glance I really like this non-discrimination paper (from the SIEL conference going on right now) by Nicolas Diebold. Here's a brief excerpt: ... Pauwelyn argued that