International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

A Change in Tariff Classification (and Rates) for Solar Panels

From the NY Times: The issue began with a short letter to United States customs officials last December from the small American subsidiary of a Spanish energy company. The subsidiary, GES USA, wanted to know what the tariff would be to import certain solar panels from China. On Jan. 9,

Paul Blustein on Improving the WTO

Former Washington Post writer Paul Blustein argues the following in Foreign Policy: Completing a reasonably ambitious Doha round would be a good start -- but only a start. Instead of pursuing more bilateral and regional deals, the world's governments should embark on new, ambitious talks under WTO auspices.

Unintended Consequences of the EU Seal Products Ban

From the Telegraph: ... Andree Garcia, the owner and chef of Les Iles en Ville, says the EU ban has been "great advertising" - and as a result has moved up seal dishes from occasional specialities to a daily regular. "Seal has become extremely popular since everybody started

Dual Cases on Dual Remedies

A while back, I did a post about the issue of "dual remedies" in relation to anti-dumping and countervailing duties, focusing on the DS379 WTO dispute. ("Dual remedies" might not be the best term, but that's what I used last time, so I'

Trade Complaints and the Stock Market

Apparently, the mere threat of a trade complaint is enough to affect a company's share price. Reuters reports: Shares in Elpida Memory Inc (6665.T) hit a two-month low on Thursday on fears stoked by a report that the U.S. would bring up government subsidies received by

Subsidies, CVD Complaints and the Auto Industry

A recent Economist article notes: Across the world governments have lavished their ailing car firms with subsidies. Although General Motors (supported with over $50 billion of taxpayers’ money) has shed some brands and factories in America, so far not a single carmaker of any size has disappeared. One of the

The L Prize and WTO Rules

A while back, we talked about whether prizes offered by the government could be challenged at the WTO as subsidies. This discussion was somewhat in the abstract. Now, though, we have an actual prize program to talk about: The "L Prize." The New York Times describes it as

IEL in Bosnian Law

Following-up on item 2 in this post, here's a news report on a Bosnian court decision: Bosnia's top court has annulled an import tax law which it said violated a regional free trade treaty and commitments to the EU, while about 1,000 farmers and food

Were the Tires Tariffs Really About China's Currency?

From Steven R. Weisman of the Peterson Institute for International Economics:2) Speaking of China, trade will be a big and perhaps contentious issue, because the Chinese are still furious over Obama's recent imposition of tariffs on Chinese tires—and the implicit threat that such tariffs could be

The WTO Boeing Ruling and State Subsidies

A Rhode Island state representative explains that a WTO ruling which finds that state subsidies to Boeing violate WTO obligations would be a good way to rein in state and local subsidies: a forthcoming decision will determine whether billions of dollars in government aid to Boeing is also illegal. We