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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

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

Obama and McCain on Cap-and-Trade

Via Peter Gallagher, I came across the following from Obama adviser Jason Grumet: To be unequivocally clear, Sen. Obama believes that the United States must and will act to put a mandatory limit on our domestic greenhouse-gas emissions. That is a predicate for us leading the world to enact

The Problem of Food Aid and Local Production

A proposal from President Bush on food aid: As America increases its food assistance, it's really important that we transform the way that food aid is delivered. In my State of the Union address this year, I called on Congress to support a proposal to purchase up to

Regulating Online Gambling, er, Predicting

From the AP: The rising popularity of markets where guesses are wagered on the outcome of everything from presidential elections to celebrity marriages has led to a situation that, well, many had predicted. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday said it is considering whether these markets should be regulated,

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