International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

Global Administrative Law and GATT Article X

From a draft paper by Richard Stewart of NYU Law School, entitled "THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION: MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS OF GLOBAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW": The WTO imposes extensive GAL requirements of transparency, participation, reason giving and review on decision making by members’ domestic administrative bodies in order to ensure even-handed

Investment Treaty Arbitration and Censorship

From Luke Peterson: There are growing signs that investment treaty protections – while rarely discussed in media or human rights law circles - may be surprisingly useful in some cases of repression or censorship of foreign-owned media. While there is growing debate as to the uses of World Trade Organization agreements

Chinese Sanctions on U.S. Companies

From CNN: China has threatened to slap sanctions on American companies that sell arms to its rival Taiwan as part of a range of punitive actions Beijing is taking to protest the deal. I'm not sure what sanctions they have in mind, but it's hard to

Obama "will be talking more about trade this year"

From a Q & A session between Obama and some Republicans: REP. ROSKAM: - ... And on the job-creation piece in particular, you mentioned Colombia, you mentioned Panama, you mentioned South Korea. Are you willing to work with us, for example, to make sure those FTAs get called? That's

High Speed Rail: A Stimulus for Foreign Companies?

From the AP: President Barack Obama is pitching his $8 billion high-speed rail program to Americans as a jobs generator that will revitalize the domestic rail industry. But the full picture is more complicated. Building ultra-fast trains won't create the kind of high-tech, high-paying jobs Americans covet any

The China - Publications AB Report and the Role of Third Participants

In the China - Publications AB report, the EU, a third participant in the appeal, was very influential on one particular issue. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen a third participant have this much impact on the AB's reasoning. Here's

Obama on Trade: Imports Bad, Exports Good

From a Q & A session after some recent remarks by Obama: Q Yes, okay, it has to do with international patent rights. With all this free trade and trade barriers falling, it's really hard for an individual like me with a global-scope patent to file all over

Trade in Everything: Offshoring Prisons

From AFP: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested California could ease its crowded prison system by sending thousands of undocumented inmates to specially built jails in Mexico. Speaking to reporters at the Sacramento Press Club, Schwarzenegger said California could ease its strained finances by a billion dollars if 20,000 illegal immigrants

"Why is Censorship a Trade Issue?"

From the Comptuer & Communications Industry Association: WHY IS CENSORSHIP A TRADE ISSUE? The United States is an information economy, and U.S. companies are leading vendors of information products and services. In this context, information discrimination fundamentally undermines market access for electronic commerce, and combating it should top our

Do Free Traders Support Dumping?

From an Australian union leader: "The bottom line is that even free-trade zealots do not support dumping because it is an uncompetitive practice and not a true reflection of market forces."Hmm, I'm not so sure about that one. I don't think economist Greg