International Economic Law and Policy Blog

Sign in Subscribe

Simon Lester

Obama and Lula on Trade in Biofuels

From their recent joint press conference: Question: President Lula said that during their meeting they talked about energy, President Obama talked about a possible partnership for energy within the hemisphere. The question I have is can't this partnership get off-balance? Because there's a lot of interest

Dani Rodrik Prefers the GATT to the WTO

In the context of writing about what is needed in the field of financial regulation, Dani Rodrik says: In short, global financial regulation is neither feasible, nor prudent, nor desirable. What finance needs instead are some sensible traffic rules that will allow nations (and in some cases regions) to implement

More on NAFTA Chapter 11 Non-Discrimination

I did a recent post discussing NAFTA Chapter 11 non-discrimination standards, in the context of the Grand River Enterprises case. In response, I got a number of helpful comments, which made clear to me that there was a lot I did not know about NAFTA Chapter 11 non-discrimination standards. Rather

Ron Kirk's Answers to Senators' Written Questions

Ron Kirk's answers to the written questions of Senators on the Finance Committee are available here. It is a 129 page document, with lots of questions and mostly brief answers. Below the jump, I pulled out the ones that I found most noteworthy (in some instances the question

The New Tuna-Dolphin Case

It appears that Mexico is moving ahead with its complaint against U.S. dolphin-safe tuna labeling measures. Here is the panel request: http://www.worldtradelaw.net/pr/ds381-4(pr).pdf The specific claims are as follows: 1. Mexican products are not accorded immediately and unconditionally any advantage, favour, privilege or

Expanding NAFTA Chapter 19

Stephen Powell of University of Florida Law School has posted a paper entitled "Expanding the NAFTA Chapter 19 Dispute Settlement System: A Way to Declaw Trade Remedy Laws in a Free Trade Area of the Americas?" Here's the abstract: Chapter 19 of the NAFTA transfers judicial

Ron Kirk Hearing: Today at 5 p.m.

The Senate Finance Committee hearing for Ron Kirk's nomination as USTR will be today at 5. I'll update this post if anything interesting is said. UPDATE: I'm not sure when a transcript of the hearing will be available, but Kirk's statement is.

Anti-Dumping on the Rise

Conventional wisdom holds that anti-dumping cases increase during economic downturns. Chad Bown's latest research seems to confirm this: Newly available data tracking the first of these trade policies - the initiation of new antidumping investigations and new antidumping measures imposed - show a marked increase in 2008 corresponding

New Journal: Trade, Law and Development

The National Law University, India has launched Trade, Law and Development, a bi-annual, student-run, academic journal: Inspired by the best traditions of scholarly journals worldwide, Trade, Law and Development seeks to explore inter-disciplinary perspectives on the international legal order, focusing on issues of relevance to the international trading system, environment

The Purpose of SCM Agreement "Countermeasures"

In the ongoing arbitration in the U.S. - Cotton Subsidies case, the parties disagree on the purpose of "countermeasures" imposed under SCM Agreement Articles 4.10 and 7.9. In its written submission, the United States argues: 340. Articles 4.10 and 7.9 of the SCM