International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

When Cooperation Fails: A Quick Run-down of the Opinio Juris Discussion

As Joel noted, over at Opinio Juris, they are discussing the new book by Greg Shaffer and Mark Pollack, When Cooperation Fails: The International Law and Politics of Genetically Modified Foods (Oxford, 2009). Greg and Mark introduce the book as follows:As its title suggests, When Cooperation Fails has two

Fixed Versus Floating Exchange Rates and Current Account Imbalances

Edwin Truman of the Peterson Institute asks, "Is universal floating the solution to persistent imbalances?" His answer: Universal floating is not the answer to persistent imbalances. If the exchange rates of all countries floated, or if foreign exchange market intervention were only occasional, that would help to address

Rum Subsidy Wars

From the WSJ Washington Wire blog: Captain Morgan rum is now produced in Puerto Rico for the British company Diageo PLC, and tax revenues on the rum are returned to the island as part of a law that comes up for renewal every year. Diageo struck a deal with the

Krugman on Responses to Alleged Chinese Currency Manipulation

Paul Krugman has another piece on China's currency policies. One thing he does in this latest piece is reject " two reasons [that have been offered] for not confronting China over its policies. " One of these he describes as follows: Second, there’s the claim that protectionism

A Pretty Good Decade for Economic Development

Economist Tyler Cowen writes the following in the NY Times: Putting aside the United States, which ranks third, the four most populous countries are China, India, Indonesia and Brazil, accounting for more than 40 percent of the world’s people. And all four have made great strides. Indonesia had solid

Trade Remedies by Foreign Companies Against Domestic Companies

From the ITC 337 Law Blog: On December 29, 2009, Nokia Corporation of Finland and Nokia Inc. of White Plains, New York (collectively, “Nokia”) filed a complaint requesting that the ITC commence an investigation pursuant to Section 337. The complaint alleges that the proposed respondent, Apple, Inc. of Cupertino, California

The WTO Seals Litigation: The PR Battle

WTO litigation is not all about legal arguments: The [Canadian] federal government is opening a new front in its decades-old clash with anti-sealing groups, shifting the battlefield from ice floes to the Internet. Concerned that seal protests timed for the Vancouver Winter Olympics may further bloody the country's

Trade Law and ISP Filtering

News from Chile, related to U.S. - Chile FTA rules on copyright protection: The Chilean House of Reps has formally rejected the latest attempt Chilean President Michele Bachelet to “reform” that country’s copyright laws to include ISP-level content filtering. Pres Bacehlet had argued that it’s necessary in

Pessimistic and Optimistic Views of the State of Free Trade

David Rothkopf declares free trade one of the decade's "losers": Globalists and free traders: Remember back during those Clinton days when we loved the world, NAFTA, the WTO, and cutting trade deals with everyone? You don't remember? You had nothing to do with that?

Trade in Everything: Love Boat Edition

From the Palm Beach Post: About a dozen senior members of the crew of the beleaguered Palm Beach Princess [cruise ship] were fired Saturday, ... ... The crew is mostly made up of foreign nationals who have work visas that do not allow them on U.S. soil. Those fired were escorted