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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

Tariff Discrimination Against Poor Countries

From Ben Muse: The Progressive Policy Institute points out that: The United States Collects More Tariff Money from Cambodia than from Britain (Trade Fact of the Week, February 20): Some of our highest tariff rates are imposed on goods from some of the poorer countries. "...countries which make cheap

Bhagwati on Obama vs. Clinton

In the FT, Jagdish Bhagwati writes: The Russian proverb goes that, if you are looking for a good son-in-law, you would not ask whether he drank but only how he behaved when he was drunk. Similarly, no Democratic candidate during the primaries can be anything but a protectionist.

The China Financial Information Services Dispute Is Here

The U.S./EU complaints against alleged Chinese restrictions on financial services are now official. From USTR's press release: The United States maintains that China’s restrictions and requirements limit the ability of foreign suppliers of financial information services to conduct business in China and place them at

Something New to Demagogue About

All of this NAFTA bashing is getting tiring. Isn't there something else to demagogue about? Hey, how about this: As has been widely reported, the Air Force stunned almost everyone yesterday by deciding to award its huge, $35 billion contract for new airborne refueling tankers to a partnership

More on the Obama Campaign's Contact with Canada

As mentioned yesterday, there have been allegations that the Obama campaign told the Canadian government that the NAFTA threats were just campaign talk. Initial reports suggested no such communication occurred, but there were new developments today: Despite repeated requests, Barack Obama's campaign is still neither verifying nor denying

Trade and Censorship: The EU View

I've mentioned before some suggestions in the U.S. that internet censorship be treated as a trade barrier (see here and here). Now the EU is getting into the act as well: The European Parliament recently passed a proposal to treat Internet censorship by repressive regimes as a

Is the NAFTA Rhetoric Just for the Election?

Yes, according to one report: Did Sen. Barack Obama say one thing privately to the Canadian government about NAFTA -- and something very different during Tuesday night's debate? The answer is yes, according to CTV, a Canadian television network. The network reported Wednesday night that a "senior member&

Trade in Everything: Patriots 19-0 Shirts and Hats

From the AP, what happened to the shirts and hats printed up with the expectation that the Patriots would win the Super Bowl: The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl and ended the season with a perfect 19-0 record - at least it looks that way in Nicaragua. The

Re-negotiating NAFTA: Some Reaction from Canada

In my post yesterday, I asked for some Canadian and Mexican reaction to the Obama/Clinton calls to "re-negotiate" NAFTA. Debra Steger offered some views in a comment. Here are some reactions in the press from Canadian government officals: Trade Minister David Emerson suggested the United States

Is Trade In Food Products Always Bad for the Environment?

From the New Yorker: It is a logical and widely held assumption that the ecological impacts of transporting food—particularly on airplanes over great distances—are far more significant than if that food were grown locally. For example: according to one recent study, factories throughout the world are burning eighteen