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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

Do BITs Promote Foreign Direct Investment?

From Jason Yackee, on SSRN, a new paper entitled "Do Bilateral Investment Treaties Promote Foreign Direct Investment? Some Hints from Alternative Evidence": In this article I present a multi-method examination of whether bilateral investment treaties, or BITs, are likely to promote inflows of foreign direct investment. Using

Guest Post: Russia-Ukraine Gas Deal: Any potential WTO-related issues?

The Moscow Times has reported that Russia and Ukraine reached a new gas agreement under which Russia would effectively give a 30 percent discount for its gas exports to Ukraine, potentially costing cost Russia approximately $40 billion over the life of the agreement. (see Anatoly Medetsky, “Deal Struck on Gas,

Some Congressional Criticism of the Cotton Deal

Via Sallie James of Cato, I see that four members of Congress want real reform of U.S. cotton subsidies and are not happy with the proposed deal with Brazil: “This proposal takes our federal farm subsidy policy from the impractical to the absurd,” said Rep. Flake. “We want to

Why the Decline in Anti-Globalization Protests?

Kindred Winecoff notes that anti-globalization protests have died down over the years, and wonders why: I can think of a few possibilities. First, the protests were loudest in the 1990s because of NAFTA (1994), the establishment of the WTO to supplant the GATT (1995), the fairly brutal "Big

Why Is ACTA Called a "Trade Agreement"?

Following-up on Henning's post, let me ask a very basic question: Why is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) referred to as a "trade agreement"? I'm sure this has been discussed somewhere, but I have not come across it. As Henning points out,

Große Ruse-Khan: ACTA – A Draft Trade Agreement with a Potential to Create Trade Barriers?

A guest post from frequent commenter Dr. Henning Große Ruse-Khan ACTA – A Draft Trade Agreement with a Potential to Create Trade Barriers? After years of secrecy and forced by recent leaks (/content/files/files/201001_acta.pdf), the negotiating parties to an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), currently the

The Clove Cigarette Case and GATT Article III:4

As mentioned the other day, Indonesia is moving ahead with a WTO complaint against the U.S. clove cigarette ban, having now filed a consultations request. I thought I'd do a short post on the GATT Article III:4 claim. Here's the Article III:4 part

WTO Consistency of China's Currency Policy: Views of Some Experts

As mentioned here, a number of experts recently weighed in on the consistency of China's currency policy with WTO rules. Here are some highlights: Staiger / Sykes GATT XV:4/SCM ... we question whether China’s trading partners can readily make a convincing case that China has violated its

Eventual Implementation in the WTO Cotton Subsidies Case

Sallie James of Cato sees signs of hope that the WTO U.S. - Cotton Subsidies ruling will eventually be implemented: I’ve written before about Rep. Collin Peterson’s (D, MN) disdain for the World Trade Organization, and its rulings against U.S. farm programs. However, in launching his 2012

Plain Packaging of Tobacco Products under TRIPS

In the comments to another post, two readers suggested a discussion of this memo by the law firm Lalive, written to Philip Morris, entitled "Why Plain Packaging is in Violation of WTO Members’ International Obligations under TRIPS and the Paris Convention." The memo defines "plain packaging"