International Economic Law and Policy Blog

Sign in Subscribe

Simon Lester

What's Going on with Fast Track?

Claude Barfield explains the recent fast track battle and rule changes resulting from the Colombia FTA fight: The Showdown Tellingly, the planning of the coup against the fast-track process came, not from the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade, but rather from the Rules Committee.

Aircraft Subsidy Wars

No, not Airbus versus Boeing. This time it's Missouri versus Quebec, fighting over an assembly plant for a Bombardier airplane: Bombardier's preferred site is Mirabel, near Montreal. In 2005, Ottawa offered $350 million in refundable assistance and seems to be sticking to this. Quebec promised a

Obama on Ethanol

With Obama's fairly good showing last night, I thought it worth looking at some of his trade positions again. Back in Iowa, he firmly supported ethanol subsidies. But will the ongoing food price crisis change his views? Maybe so, based on his recent statements in an appearance on

OPEC WTO Legislation Introduced

From a press release by Senator Frank Lautenberg: Late last week, U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced legislation to force action against the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for its anti-competitive practices and illegal export quotas on oil, which ultimately lead to higher gas

Possible New Investment Treaty Rules for Non-Discrimination

From a Norwegian draft model BIT (MS Word document) that reader Perry Bechky pointed me to: Article 3: NATIONAL TREATMENT 1. Each Party shall accord to investors of the other Party and to their investments, treatment no less favourable than the treatment it accords in like circumstances[FN2] to its

Clinton and Obama on Currency

From the campaign trail, Hillary Clinton takes on the China currency issue: The China Currency Coalition ("CCC") today greeted enthusiastically the announcement by Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) that she has become a co-sponsor of S. 796, the Fair Currency Act of 2007, also known as the

Upcoming WTO Scholars' Forum Events

Some upcoming events in London: The Directors of the WTO Scholars' Forum would like to invite you to a series of events organized in May: 1. Talk by Professor Don Regan on 'What Are Trade Agreements For?' Thursday 15 May 2008, 2-4pm, Moot Court, UCL Laws,

Panels versus the Appellate Body: The DS344 Appeal

Some of you may recall the recent panel ruling in U.S. - Stainless Steel (Mexico) (DS344), where a panel decided not to follow the Appellate Body's "zeroing" jurisprudence, saying the following in this regard: 7.115 We respectfully disagree with the Appellate Body's reasoning.

A Gambling "Appeal"?

This would be a novel development, although I must say I'm not sure exactly what Mr. Mendel has in mind: Mark Mendel, Antigua and Barbuda’s attorney in the Internet gambling trade dispute with the United States, has indicated that the decision by a World Trade Organisation (WTO)

High Gas Prices, OPEC and the WTO

It has been a while since we talked about the possibility of a WTO complaint against OPEC. Given the recent increase in gas prices, I was a bit surprised that it took the U.S. Presidential campaigns so long to raise the issue, but at long last here is something