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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

Trade Measures Against the Auto Bailout

They may be coming. From the FT: China is preparing to launch a trade investigation into whether US carmakers are being unfairly subsidised by the US government, according to people familiar with the matter....General Motors and Chrysler have received about $60bn in government bail-out funds, though Ford has

Getting Around The Clove Cigarette Ban

I had been wondering if Indonesia would go forward with a WTO complaint against the U.S. ban on clove cigarettes, but had not heard anything. Perhaps this is why: A few weeks ago ... clove cigarettes were banned in the U.S. on the grounds that their fragrance is a

Two PPM Issues

For those of you who get excited about PPMs (process and production methods), on one side or the other, I just came across two such issues. 1. In a policy paper about sustainability standards for biofuel products, economists Harry de Gorter and David R. Just make the following point: 28.

Director of Legal Affairs at the WTO

I did a recent post about a job opening at the Advisory Centre on WTO Law, in which I said that these opportunities don't come along very often, so anyone who might possibly be interested should apply. Well, here's another job just like that: The Secretariat

Trade Versus the Environment: Local Content Requirements for Solar Energy

From thestar.com: The new Ontario requirement that grid-connected solar projects include a minimum amount of local content is causing a stir in Germany, where manufacturers say Canada is breaching its obligations to the World Trade Organization.... The new rules, which went into effect Oct. 1, require that small

Krugman: "Something must be done about China’s currency"

First he explains: The value of China’s currency, unlike, say, the value of the British pound, isn’t determined by supply and demand. Instead, Chinese authorities enforced that target by buying or selling their currency in the foreign exchange market ...And then he complains:U.S. officials have been

Trade in Everything: Cuban Rum to the United States

Maybe some day soon: Cuba is ready to ship 1 million cases of rum to America if Washington eases its 47-year-old embargo, but would hold off exporting its flagship Havana Club brand because of U.S. trademark battles, one of the island's top rum executives said

Is That It For Section 421?

Reuters reports: The United States is pressing China to change policies that overfuel its exports and led to President Barack Obama slapping duties on Chinese-made tires last month, a U.S. trade official said on Thursday. "We have been engaging them in a dialogue in a way to

The FT on Excluding Sri Lanka from GSP Plus

From an FT editorial on the EU's likely decision to exclude Sri Lanka from its GSP Plus trade preference program: Using trade as a strategic tool makes the global trading system hostage to endless political posturing and negotiating games. Governments should grant trade preferences on simple, fair criteria,

ELSA WTO Moot Court - North America Round

The ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO Law North American Regional RoundMarch 18-20, 2010Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa The ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO Law is an international moot court competition on WTO dispute settlement organized by the European Law Students Association which includes teams of students