International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

Trade 2.0

"Trade 2.0," posted on SSRN by Anupam Chander. Here is the abstract: Where the last century saw the dismantling of barriers to trade in goods, the new century will see the dismantling of barriers to trade in services. Once theorized as nontradable, services now join goods in

Dan Ikenson on a Chinese Company Buying Hummer

As many have probably heard already, a Chinese company is likely to buy the Hummer brand. Dan Ikenson of Cato offers the following thoughts on the deal: Not only is the Hummer offer the first bid for a GM asset in bankruptcy, but the bidder is foreign. Not only is

The Scope of DSU Article 21.5: Claims That Could Have Been Brought in the Original Proceeding

In the recent U.S. - Zeroing (EC), Article 21.5 dispute, there was a systemic issue related to bringing "new" claims in an Article 21.5 proceeding: If a claim could have been brought against the measure at issue in the original proceeding, but was not, can

Does the GM Bailout/Takeover/Bankruptcy Violate the GATT?

Phil Levy of AEI makes the case in relation to one aspect: GM had recently informed Congress that it planned to produce roughly 50,000 subcompacts per year in China to sell in the U.S market in the near future. However, on Thursday, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said that

The Response to Buy America

From Canada's National Post: The federal government is looking to cut a deal with Washington that would persuade U.S. legislators to repeal controversial Buy American measures that Canadian firms say are costing them sales and forcing them to shed jobs. The key element of such a pact,

Trade in Everything: Self-Outsourcing?

A reader points me to the following from the Onion: More American Workers Outsourcing Own Jobs Overseas

Subsidy Wars

Moving away from cars, over to agriculture: Twenty-nine countries at the World Trade Organization criticized the United States on Wednesday for reintroducing export subsidies on U.S. dairy products, calling the handouts a dangerous retreat into protectionism and warning of "subsidy wars." ... The U.S. view was that

Using Free Trade to Promote Development

Over at vox, Kimberly Elliott says the U.S. should lower tariffs on imports from poor countries: ... the Doha Round, under the best of circumstances, will take some time to conclude, and the US and other rich countries should move as quickly as possible to further open their markets to

Lowering the Costs of Cap and Trade

The Economist reports the following on the latest "cap and trade" proposals in the U.S.: On May 15th Henry Waxman and Edward Markey, the Democratic point-men on climate change in the House of Representatives, unveiled a bill that would give away 85% of carbon permits for nothing,

Congrats to the ELSA WTO Moot Court Winners!

Andrew Mitchell of Melbourne Law School writes with the following: Melbourne Law School has won the 2008-2009 European Law Students’ Association WTO Moot Court Competition in Taipei! The Melbourne team, comprising Laura Bellamy (LLB), Rudi Kruse (JD), Erica Leaney (LLB) and Christopher Tran (LLB) and coached by Associate Professors Andrew