International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

Non-Discrimination under NAFTA Chapter 11

From the claimants' submission in the Grand River Enterprises NAFTA Chapter 11 case: There is simply no room in the language of [the NAFTA Chapter 11 National Treatment and MFN] provisions for reading-in the requirement for an investor to either prove that the measures according less favorable treatment

China Currency Talk

The rhetoric a few weeks back from Obama's new Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on China's currency "manipulation" has generated a bit of a response. Here's a sampling: The Economist: CHINA has been accused of “manipulating” its currency by Tim Geithner, America’s

A Trade and Environment Success Story

Not all trade and the environment conflicts result in protests outside the WTO. The Economist reports on one success story: UNTIL recently, the glaze on most Mexican pottery contained lead. ... . [As a result,] products were banned from the American market, where their hand-painted beauty could fetch much higher prices

WTO Dispute Settlement 2008

For those who will be in Geneva next Monday, March 2, the Graduate Institute's Center for Trade and Economic Integration will hold its 2nd Annual "Update on WTO Dispute Settlement," discussing developments in 2008. The program is here.

U. of Chicago Law Faculty Blog on "The Future of the WTO"

The U. of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog is discussing "The Future of the WTO," with posts by Anu Bradford, Daniel Abebe, Greg Shaffer and Richard Steinberg. Steinberg begins his post as follows: "As a location for trade negotiation, the WTO is dead." I'm

Buy America under WTO Rules

With regard to Brazil's possible WTO complaint against the Buy America stimulus provisions, I had been caught up with trying to figure out how Brazil would deal with the GATT Article III:8(a) exemption. However, a commenter pointed out SCM Agreement Article 3.1(b), which I

Obama and Harper Talk Trade

From their joint press conference: Q Thank you, to both of you. I've got a question for both of you. Mr. President, on Tuesday you said that now is not the time to reopen NAFTA. But your aides said that you would be trying to convince our friends

Trade Implications of The Auto Bailout

Some experts weigh in: Claire Brunel and Gary Hufbauer of the Peterson Institute: Auto bailouts in the United States and elsewhere largely fall within the purview of the WTO definition of actionable subsidies. But fuel-efficiency and environmental standards complicate the issue, and bringing a case to the WTO based

"Buy Keynesian"

Todd Tucker at Eyes on Trade points to the following proposal, referred to as a "Buy Keynesian" policy, from John Schmitt at CEPR: The President could rewrite the current "Buy American" restriction to allow US recovery funds to be spent on US goods — as well as

A Possible "Buy America" WTO Complaint

From Reuters: Brazil may challenge the legality of a "Buy American" clause in the recently approved U.S. economic stimulus package at the World Trade Organization, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Monday. "It's a complex legal analysis, but we're doing it,