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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

How Should I Feel About "Tariff Earmarks"?

I'm not a big fan of earmarks generally. Even if specific projects are defensible, the process just seems fundamentally flawed. But what if the "earmark" is a suspension of a tariff duty? As a free trader, shouldn't I support that? According to this story,

How Important Are Labor/Environmental Standards in Trade Agreements?

As noted many times on this blog, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been making a big deal of the absence of enforceable labor/environmental standards in certain trade agreements, such as NAFTA. But how important would these really be? Dan Drezner gives the following answer: Repeat after me: attaching

Obama/Clinton: "Opt Out Of" Or "Re-negotiate" NAFTA

I was just watching the Obama-Clinton debate in Ohio. Most of the trade stuff was boilerplate, but one point jumped out at me. Both Obama and Clinton stated explicitly that they will "opt out" of NAFTA unless the governments of Canada and Mexico agree to re-negotiate

The Patriot Employers Act under WTO Rules

There has been a lot of criticism of the Patriot Employers Act proposed by Barack Obama and several others (see, e.g., here). A few days ago, I was asked in a comment whether the Act would be consistent with the SCM Agreement. My short answer was that there was

What the Candidates Should Be Talking About in Ohio

Much of the political debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in Ohio has been about which of them dislikes NAFTA more. But perhaps when addressing trade issues in their debate in Cleveland on Tuesday, they should be talking a bit more about stories like this: The Cleveland Clinic has

Obama's Economics Adviser on Obama on Trade

Here's how Austan Goolsbee, a University of Chicago economics professor who is Obama's leading economic adviser, describes Obama's views on trade: "I don't think he views himself as a protectionist," Goolsbee said. He said Obama favored expanding access to global

BYOM: Bring Your Own Meat

From Reuters: China expressed regret on Thursday at reports the U.S. Olympic team would bring its own meat for the Beijing Games over concerns of drugs tainted food, and said it could guarantee safe supplies. The New York Times has reported that the U.S. Olympic Committee has arranged

ZEROING POLL

This poll is highly unscientific, but nevertheless I'm curious to see what people think! I'm going to keep it at the top for a few days to give people a chance to vote. ADDED: I realize now that I should have made more clear that I

Investment Protection for Whom?

Aren't investment protection rules designed to protect investments by Western companies in developing countries? That may have been the original idea, but now the situation seems more complicated: With Indian firms investing aggressively in the US, India has put on fast track negotiations on signing an investment protection

ICJ Job

Amy Porges points me to this vacancy notice for a Senior Legal Officer/First Secretary of the Court at the International Court of Justice: http://www.asil.org/pdfs/vacancy.pdf