Debating NAFTA
With Dan Griswold of Cato and Todd Tucker of Global Trade Watch.
If you go to the C-Span page, you can search the transcript.
Simon Lester
A Debate on WTO Dissents
I'm pleased to introduce a debate on the issue of dissents in WTO dispute settlement decisions. Those of you who read the JIEL regularly may have seen two articles setting forth different views on the proper role of dissents. In 2006, Meredith Kolsky Lewis of Victoria University of
Origin Labeling for Help Lines?
And a tax, too. Reuters reports:
In a bid to reduce outsourcing of U.S. jobs, a Democratic senator said on Sunday he will push legislation to make companies inform customers when their calls were being transferred outside the United States and charge companies for those transferred calls.
"This
From Seal Products to Shark Fins
Hawaii is going to ban "the sale, possession and distribution of" shark fins:
Shark conservation groups are celebrating a small but important triumph after Hawaii on Friday became the first state in the nation to ban the sale, possession and distribution of shark fins.
Gov. Linda Lingle signed
Australia's AD/CVD System
Australia has just done a report on its anti-dumping and countervailing duty system. Some snippets:
Should Australia retain an antidumping system?
Key points
• The price raising effects of anti-dumping measures give rise to a range of benefits and costs for applicant industries and their suppliers, importers, downstream user industries and,
Webcasting an Investment Arbitration Hearing
Via Luke Peterson, I see that ICSID is webcasting a hearing in the Pac Rim CAFTA-DR investment arbitration:
A hearing on preliminary objections in the above case will be transmitted live via internet feed on Monday, May 31, 2010 and Tuesday, June 1, 2010, starting at 9:30 a.m.
Global Trade Watch on the Prudential Carve Out
In this recent memo, Global Trade Watch expresses concern about the GATS "prudential carve out" in the area of financial services regulation. The carve out is in Article 2(a) of the GATS Annex on Financial Services and reads as follows:
2. Domestic Regulation
(a) Notwithstanding any other
More on National Treatment and Investment Arbitration
Last week I talked about National Treatment in the context of the hearing in the Grand River Enterprises NAFTA Chapter 11 case. Stimulated by re-reading an article by Nicholas DiMascio & Joost Pauwelyn, "Nondiscrimination in Trade and Investment Treaties: Worlds Apart or Two Sides of the Same Coin?"
WTO Dispute Decisions: Coming Soon
People may have noticed a lull in WTO dispute decisions recently. Since the Cotton Subsidies arbitration decisions last August, we have had a grand total of 3 decisions. And two of those were fairly minor: An Article 21.3(c) arbitration and a decision on zeroing where the U.S.
Chatting with USTR about the TPP
As mentioned here, USTR hosted an online chat about the TPP. I was excited to see that they responded to the question I submitted:
Simon: What is the likelihood that an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism will be included in the TPP? Is USTR pushing for it to be included?
USTR: