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Simon Lester

Some Thoughts on "Single Undertakings"

In the news: Impatience with the glacial pace of global free trade negotiations prompted calls this week for the Doha round to be smashed into smaller and more digestible mini-deals that could be agreed quickly. At a World Trade Organization meeting in Geneva, ministers from both rich and poor countries

Free Trade and the NBA

Senator Chuck Schumer is concerned with the NBA dressing its players in foreign gear. It's gotta be the shoes, right? Actually, it's the uniforms: A U.S. senator from New York doesn't want NBA players taking to the court wearing jerseys made in Asia.

The WTO's "Political Problem"

Alan Beattie of the FT assesses the Doha impasse this way:It’s not the global mechanisms that are wonky. It’s the weakness of the national governments pulling the levers. This would be as true of a plurilateral trade deal as of a multilateral, of course. There is no

Brazil vs. The U.S. On Doha

USTR Ron Kirk: But to close the remaining gaps in agriculture, NAMA, and services particularly with regard to the market access commitments by the most advanced developing countries this multilateral work needs to be supplemented by sustained direct bilateral engagement, as called for by G-20 leaders. There is no secret

Creative Solutions to the Chinese Currency Issue

Dan Drezner half-jokingly proposes the following: It would be interesting for the U.S. Trade Representative and the EU Trade Directorate to make the following proposal: Hey, Wen, you're right about the unfair tire tariffs and the like. Let's make a trade deal: you allow the

Offshoring As A Way To Promote Development

Over at Eyes on Trade, Todd Tucker cites this WSJ article and expresses concerns about offshoring of Japanese animation jobs to China, Korea and Viet Nam. I’m going to use his post as a jumping off point for the following questions about offshoring: Isn’t offshoring good for economic

The Economist on the Trade / Cap and Trade Conflict

The Economist has a good article discussing the likely trade conflicts arising from cap and trade measures. They talk about the problem of countries reducing emissions by varying amounts, and the possibility of companies relocating production to "carbon havens." According to the article, studies suggest that the scope

Using RTAs to Reduce Trade Remedies

Tania Voon has posted a working paper entitled “Eliminating Trade Remedies from the WTO: Lessons from Regional Trade Agreements” on SSRN. Some key excerpts:[This paper] explores RTAs as positive models to reduce or eliminate the use of trade remedies among WTO Members, providing a concrete case study of the

GATT Article XV:4 and Intent

GATT Article XV:4 states in part: [WTO Members] shall not, by exchange action, frustrate* the intent of the provisions of this Agreement ... Thus, Article XV:4 refers to the "intent of the provisions of this Agreement." One provision of "this Agrement" (that is, the GATT)

More China Currency Scholarship

From Christoph Herrmann, in the European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2010, an article entitled "Don Yuan: China’s “Selfish” Exchange Rate Policy and International Economic Law." From the intro: "This paper will deal with the question whether the exchange rate regime operated by the People’s