International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

A New Link Between Trade and Immigration

Reader Daniel Crosby points me to this article from the NY Times, which discusses a proposed U.S. law that takes the trade and immigration linkage in a new direction: A Senate bill approved Thursday night by unanimous consent would pay for more security along the Mexico border by raising

WTO Gambling Case Predictions

This is from gambling writer Hartley Henderson: Consequently the following is my prediction with regards to the WTO issue and Antigua. The U.S. will remove its decision to rewrite its commitments, thereby eliminating the need to offer concessions. The country will provide opportunities for EU based companies to compete

Looking for KORUS FTA Investor-State Business?

Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch notes: If the [Korea-U.S. FTA] were to go into effect, at least 79 Korea-based corporations with 270 establishments across the United States would obtain new rights to demand taxpayer compensation through challenges of U.S. federal, and state laws in

Harley-Davidson Plays the State Competition Game

From the AP: It's the roar that made Milwaukee famous — the distinctive throaty rumble of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. But that much-loved racket could be rumbling away to another state if the company cannot bring down its labor costs. Harley-Davidson warned employees in April that it

Two Takes on the Enron ICSID Annulment Decision

Luke Peterson provides the basic details: A review panel at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has annulled a 2007 arbitral award rendered in favour of the Enron corporation and Ponderosa Assets L.P. (hereinafter Enron”) in a dispute arising out of the Argentine financial crisis. The

Defining the Boundaries of International Economic Law

Regardless of which side of the debate you are on, I think this op-ed by Canadian political science prof Adam Harmes states the issues quite well: As premiers gather for their annual conference in Winnipeg this week, the issue of reducing interprovincial trade barriers will no doubt be a

Requiring Foreign Manufacturers to Have a Domestic Worker

Other bills Speaker Pelosi hopes to pass soon include ... a requirement that foreign manufacturers keep at least one worker stationed in the U.S. so the company can be officially served with court papers.http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/62330That's probably not a big deal for large companies,

"Tolerating" Zeroing under International Law

I know that not everyone reads the comments, so I thought I'd pull something out of the comments on a previous post by Marc Benitah on the Kosovo ICJ decision. In our brief back and forth there, Marc pointed me to a statement by Judge Simma in his

Trade in Legal Services, Country by Country

The Economist reports on the globalization of legal services, with a number of countries highlighted: China, Brazil, Hong Kong: In China and Brazil foreign firms have flourished by offering advice on international law, but they cannot provide legal representation in local courts. (An exception is Hong Kong, which has recently

Bullfighting, Seal Products and the WTO

Reuters reports: Lawmakers dealt the death blow to bullfighting in Catalonia on Wednesday, outlawing the centuries-old blood sport for the first time in a mainland region of Spain. The result of 68 in favor, 55 against the ban was expected, since the Catalonian parliament had cast preliminary votes in