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Simon Lester

Perry Bechky on the G20 and Soft Law

A guest post from blog reader Perry Bechky: Where does the trade language in the two G20 summit declarations fall on the famous soft-to-hard spectrum in international law? The November declaration says, “[W]ithin the next twelve months, we will refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade

Cap and Trade: Coming Soon in the U.S.?

Via Ben Muse, I see this Reuters summary of the trade aspects of the U.S. House draft carbon legislation: INDUSTRY REBATES/TRADE Authorizes U.S. companies in industries that use a lot of energy to receive "rebates" to compensate for additional costs of cap and trade. If

The Impact of Labor Restrictions on Free Trade in Goods

I have been thinking a bit more about the Don Boudreaux post I quoted from recently. I take his point to be that free trade within nations (e.g., within the U.S.) is generally accepted as having economic benefits, so critics of free trade between nations (e.g., WTO

Trade versus the Environment: Shipping Pollution

The EPA is proposing regulations to control emissions from large ships: The United States took a critical step towards protecting Americans from harmful ship emissions by becoming the first country to ask the International Maritime Organization to create an emissions control area (ECA) around the nation’s coastline, the EPA

USTR's NTE Report is Out

Here's the full report. Here's a brief summary by USTR: Kirk said today that the report will help to inform an enforcement strategy for the trade policy of the United States, and that USTR is moving forward as follows: · USTR is beginning a review of the

Trade in Everything: Haircuts

More trade in everything, via Greg Mankiw: The financial crisis has hit Eastern Europe particularly hard, leading to strong depreciation pressure on exchange rates. As a result, traditional non-tradable goods have suddenly become tradable. The Polish village of Osinow Dolny at the Polish-German border has approx. 200 inhabitants, 100 of

Trade in Everything: Surrogacy

Seema Sapra's excellent "India in the WTO" blog points me to this Journal of World Trade article that makes for a good "trade in everything" post: Christina Stephenson, 'Reproductive Outsourcing to India: WTO Obligations in the Absence of US National Legislation' (2009)

More on the Crisis Round

Over at Vox, economists Aaditya Mattoo and Arvind Subramanian offer more details on their proposed "crisis round," as compared to the Doha agenda: Table 1. Commitments under the Doha Round and the proposed Crisis Round Sector / Area Doha Agenda's likely outcome Crisis round agenda Agricultural tariffs

"Free Trade is Ubiquitous"

Economist Don Boudreaux puts the burden on those who oppose free trade to explain why trade restrictions between nations will make people better off, given that free trade is the general rule within nations: Karol, Thomas, and I live in Burke, Virginia. We are free to trade not only with

Obama on Incentives to Buy, New Cleaner Cars

One aspect of President Obama's plan for the automakers, from his remarks today: ... several members of Congress have proposed an even more ambitious incentive program to increase car sales while modernizing our auto fleet. And such fleet modernization programs, which provide a generous credit to consumers who turn