International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

Bailouts and International Investment Law

From Anne van Aaken and Jürgen Kurtz, a brief paper entitled "THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS: WILL STATE EMERGENCY MEASURES TRIGGER INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT DISPUTES?" From the conclusion: We draw two tentative conclusions, implicated in our analysis of potential liability under international investment treaties. First, there is clear evidence of

Trade and the Environment and Subsidies

There's a lot going on in this story about subsidies to U.S. pulp producers. I'm not sure exactly what all the trade implications are, but it's interesting enough that I'm going to talk about it anyway. As explained in the article,

Rachel Brewster on Carbon Tariffs

She thinks they are likely to be unfair: ... if the United States decides to apply a carbon tariff, then it must decide how much carbon it gets to produce compared with other countries. The Boxer-Lieberman-Warner bill, for example, determines whether another country's environmental regulation is comparable to the

Ron Kirk on Trade and Climate Change

USTR Ron Kirk talks about trade and climate change: I would like to emphasize the Administration's view that global climate change is a priority and that our response includes asserting U.S. leadership to establish a domestic cap-and-trade system and put us on a trajectory to gradually reduce

Adaptive Governance and International Trade

Dapo Akande of EJIL:Talk! writes with the following: Today and tomorrow we have a debate on the blog about Adaptive Governance and International Trade. The debate is structured around a response by Monica Garcia-Salmones to an article published in the European Journal of International Law in 2007 by Rosie

NAFTA Non-Discrimination: The Corn Products Decision

Turning back to non-discrimination under NAFTA Chapter 11, which has become a recent obsession of mine, in addition to Grand River Enterprises, there is another NAFTA Chapter 11 case dealing with non-discrimination standards that is worth talking about: The Corn Products case (discussed on this blog by Luke Peterson just

What Legalized Online Gambling Might Look Like in the U.S.

There has been some talk of legalized online gambling in recent months. I'm a little skeptical we'll see this happen any time soon, but if it does, this approach seems problematic from a trade perspective: With every sign pointing to the eventual regulation of Internet gaming

A Trade in Services Dormant Commerce Clause Case

Someone is challenging Wisconsin's diploma privilege as a violation of the dormant commerce clause: Wisconsin’s diploma privilege for graduates of the law schools at Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin may be in danger, at least if the Seventh Circuit reviews the merits of the privilege.

Counter-measures defence raised in NAFTA Chapter 11 claims against Mexico

A guest post from Luke Eric Peterson of the Investment Arbitration Reporter : In recent weeks, Mexico has slapped retaliatory tariffs on certain US goods – and sought to justify this by pointing to the US failure to provide greater access for Mexican trucks (more specificially, Mexico cites a failure of the

The Stimulus and Buy America: Not Everyone is Worried

Spain sees it as an opportunity: AMERICAN companies are not the only ones hoping for a boost from Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan. Spanish firms are also positioning themselves to benefit from what they call el Plan Obama. Other foreign companies are jostling for some of the $317 billion