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Simon Lester

Simon Lester

Co-founder of WorldTradeLaw.net and China Trade Monitor. Non-resident fellow at the Baker Institute.

http://simonlester.com

McCain Goes After the Free Trade Vote

I'm not sure how big that voting bloc is anymore, but in a speech today, Sen. McCain has a lot to say on trade. If this is a sign of things to come, trade is going to be a hot issue in the Presidential campaign. First, he goes

How Would a President Obama Govern on Trade?

Bob Davis of the Wall Street Journal is skeptical of Obama's free trade credentials: Since at least John F. Kennedy, presidential candidates have campaigned as tough on trade and then governed as free traders. Some business leaders are expecting the same if Barack Obama makes it to the

The Farm Bill and the U.S. Trade Policy Review

Reader R.V. Anuradha points me to this Reuters report on the forthcoming U.S. Trade Policy Review done by the WTO: In agriculture, some programs may provide incentives that are inconsistent with market signals and affect trade when supported output reaches world markets, it said. “The expiration of the

The Farm Bill and Food Aid

I mentioned the Bush Administration's food aid proposal a few days ago. So what did the Farm Bill -- passed with a veto-proof majority -- do with the issue? According to Reuters: U.S. lawmakers unveiled a five-year global food aid plan on Thursday, snubbing White House demands

Obama on Prying Open Foreign Markets

At a recent town hall meeting: Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama urged Japan and South Korea on Friday to scrap all their controls on U.S. beef imports and fully open their beef markets. "You can't get beef into Japan and Korea, even though, obviously, we have

Trade in Everything: French Fries

OK, technically speaking it is trade in potatoes, but french fries made for a better title: Anyone who has been to a soccer game in Europe knows that fries and burgers are among the most popular food items on sale at football grounds. So, it must have come as a

Obama and McCain on Farm Subsidies

The U.S. Senate approved the farm bill today. The bill is now off to the President for an expected veto, but there appear to be enough Congressional votes to override the veto. What do the candidates think of it? Well, neither McCain nor Obama was there for today'

John McCain's Trade Vision for 2013

In a speech today, John McCain took "a little time to describe what [he] would hope to have achieved at the end of [his] first term as President." Here's the trade part: New free trade agreements have been ratified and led to substantial increases in both

Expropriation Standards in Investment Rules

From the previously mentioned Norwegian draft model BIT (MS Word document) that reader Perry Bechky pointed me to: ARTICLE [6]: EXPROPRIATION 1. A Party shall not expropriate or nationalise an investment of an investor of the other Party except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for

ACP-EU Relations Conference

The Association for International Arbitration (AIA) is organising this conference to promote and create awareness of the Arbitration and Mediation in the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of countries) – EU Relations. Our goal is to promote arbitration and mediation as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, ultimately in benefit of