Simon Lester

Paul Krugman says: Free trade is supposed to be about a principle: nondiscrimination between domestic and foreign goods. If only it were so simple. Certainly everyone would agree that non-discrimination betweeen domestic and foreign goods (and services) is a crucial part of free trade.  But there are a number

With the the U.S. health care reform debate heating up, I can't resist jumping in here with some thoughts on how "free trade" could play a role in improving health care.  I have two things in mind:  (1) free trade within the U.S. and

Reuters has some new details on the WTO Airbus ruling: Picking apart the contrasting claims, two sources familiar with the case told Reuters the draft conclusions of a five-year WTO probe overwhelmingly backed U.S. charges that the dozen or so loans were "actionable" subsidies that harmed

From the WSJ: The Journal reported that the WTO in its interim ruling classified every launch aid package given for the A380 passenger jet as an illegal subsidy.ADDED: Let the debate over what the ruling actually says commence.  From Reuters: Comments that the World Trade Organization on Friday backed

So far, the details of the Airbus ruling have not been leaked, so nothing to comment on in that regard.  However, I did have a quibble with this statement by the Economist: Theoretically the WTO ruling, if confirmed and not over-turned on appeal, could cause a trade war between

The WSJ says it's 1,000 pages: Trade-law specialists say the 1,000-page document's wording will be ambiguous enough to allow the EU to appeal unfavorable findings Here's another non-substantive question:  Will the document be leaked?  No doubt it will be