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Simon Lester

Charnovitz: USTR Should Devote More Attention to Worker Issues

Cross-post #4 from Steve Charnovitz:by Steve Charnovitz Does USTR care about the workers who produce the goods and services in world trade? There is reason for doubt. In my 34 years of being a USTR-watcher, I have observed that the level of interest in labor, employment, and

More from the World Trade Report 2009

I found a lot of interesting things in the WTO's World Trade Report 2009, released yesterday. Here are a few tidbits. From page 51, questions about the problem of applying safeguards to services: How could the notion of safeguards be extended to the movement of consumers, under mode

Charnovitz: Transparency Chapter of KORUS FTA Is Problematic

A third cross-post by Steve Charnovitz: by Steve Charnovitz The Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) is one of the three pending US free trade agreements that have been negotiated and signed, but not yet approved by the United States. Chapter 21 of the KORUS is titled “Transparency” and

WTO Report: Dumping is Good

At least in most cases. From page 67 of the World Trade Report 2009, released today: What are the effects of dumping on the economic welfare of the importing country? Economic theory suggests that, with the possible exception of predatory dumping, all other instances of dumping either increase, or at

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

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

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 named