International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

Pascal Lamy on "Contingent Protection"

From a speech: We generally think of contingency trade policy as actions available to deal with unanticipated market situations. It is well understood such measures are fundamental to the effectiveness and stability of trade agreements. In their various guises, they can be thought of as safety valves, a form of

Charnovitz: USTR Misleads the Public on the Status of Unimplemented Free Trade Agreements

The second cross-post from Steve Charnovitz blogging at Eyes on Trade: by Steve Charnovitz Although President Obama claims to be for "free and fair" trade, he and his Administration have made no progress in securing the implementation of the three already-negotiated U.S. free trade agreements (FTAs) with

Honey Standards and Foreign Competition

Just the other day, USTR Ron Kirk mentioned technical barriers to trade as a focus of future U.S. trade enforcement. He said: The second new tool will take on one of the biggest obstacles our manufacturers face: technical barriers to trade, such as technical regulations and standards that restrict

Charnovitz: USTR Can Do Better at Fulfilling its FOIA Responsibilities

Steve Charnovitz is posting at Eyes on Trade this week and asked me to cross-post over here. Here's his first post: by Steve Charnovitz I want to thank Public Citizen for inviting me to be a guest blogger this week. I believe this invitation is especially noteworthy given

India's View of Carbon Tariffs (and Carbon Caps)

From Bloomberg: India won’t bend to demands from the Obama administration or threats from the U.S. Congress to adopt legally binding caps on its carbon emissions, the country’s environment minister told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clintonyesterday. “There is simply no case for the pressure”

Zookz Update

The Antigua government is not amused by the Zookz position on the impact of the WTO Article 22.6 Gambling decision: St. John's, Antigua (PRWEB) July 17, 2009 -- It has come to the attention of the Government of Antigua and Barbuda that there is a web site

"Today, on behalf of President Obama, I am here to affirm this administration's commitment to trade enforcement."

A key statement in USTR Ron Kirk's speech to Pennsylvania steel workers. More highlights: I am announcing several concrete new measures that will help to guarantee America's workers, businesses, and families a fair deal. We will take new steps to protect the rights of American farmers

Taking WTO Rulings A Bit Too Far

Many readers are probably familiar with the Antigua-U.S. Gambling dispute. I don't want to go through all the details here, but if you need a refresher, here's an overview from an ASIL Insight I did in 2008. I hadn't heard anything about the

The WTO GMO Dispute Is 1/3 Over

The 1/3 being Canada's complaint. The complaints by Argentina and the United States remain unresolved. From the EC press release: EC regulatory procedures on genetically modified organisms are working normally, as evidenced by 21 authorisations since the date of establishment of the WTO panel. The European Commission

A New Approach to Food Aid?

Is our approach to food aid about to undergo a major transformation? From the NY Times: The food aid initiative, agreed upon at the Group of 8 summit meeting, is intended to transform traditional aid to poorer countries beyond simply donated produce, grains and meats to assistance building infrastructure and