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Simon Lester

Simon Lester

Co-founder of WorldTradeLaw.net and China Trade Monitor. Non-resident fellow at the Baker Institute.

http://simonlester.com

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?

The Generic Drug Seizure Complaints

As was widely reported last week, Brazil and India have requested WTO consultations on the generic drug seizures issue. From Ravi Kanth of the Business Standard: India and Brazil raised a trade dispute against the European Union (EU) before the World Trade Organization on Tuesday over seizure of generic drugs

Grand River Enterprises: Discussion of National Treatment at the Hearing

Following up on some previous posts about the NAFTA Chapter 11 Grand River Enterprises dispute, the hearing in the case, held in early February, offered some interesting discussion of the National Treatment issue. Let me first turn to Luke Peterson of the Investment Arbitration Reporter for some background: The individual

Bill Clinton on VAT and Exports

From a recent interview: I think they ought to look at a progressive value-added tax, just because--and I think it's important the American people understand this--most of our competitors have tax systems like this. If you have a value-added tax, you put a little

Petitioners' vs. Respondents' Views on Prospective vs. Retrospective Systems

As mentioned a little while back, in the conference report accompanying the 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Public Law: 111-117, the conferees "directed the Secretary of Commerce to work with the Secretaries of the Departments of Homeland Security and the Treasury to conduct an analysis of the relative advantages

Two Interesting Pieces of Trade Law Scholarship

On SSRN, "Strategic Delaying and Concessions Extraction in Accession Negotiations to the World Trade Organization," by Eric Neumayer: Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), is like no accession to any other international organization. It is extremely

Chat Online with USTR About TPP

From USTR: USTR is ... actively seeking public input on objectives for the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations ahead of the second round of negotiations, which will be held during the week of June 14. As part of USTR’s Schedule of activities for World Trade Week, USTR chief negotiator for the

Retaliatory Anti-Dumping

Can anti-dumping measures be used as a response to another country's anti-dumping measures? From the recent consultations request by the EU in China - Provisional AD Duties on Fasteners (DS407): 2. The EU considers that Article 56 of the Regulations of the People's Republic of

Zeroing in "Targeted Dumping" Situations: The Next Battleground?

Trade lawyers Bob LaFrankie and Alicia Winston write (registration required) about a recent DOC decision related to zeroing in the "targeted dumping" context: Foreign exporters and U.S. importers should take note of a recent antidumping decision that represents a significant change in the U.S. Government'

GATT Articles I and II and the China Specific Safeguard

A while back, I wrote about the Chinese consultations request in the U.S. - Tires Safeguards (DS399) case. I was intrigued by how China presented its claim. Here's what I said then: " instead of simply claiming a violation of the Protocol, China characterizes its claims as being