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Simon Lester

Mitt Romney's Trade Vision

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has put forward the outlines of his vision for trade, which he calls the "Reagan Zone Of Economic Freedom" (hat tip to Eyes on Trade). One aspect is the following: Starting with a core of U.S. free trade agreement partners, Governor Romney

Trade in Everything: Mercenary Services

I found this Bloomberg article on Fijian mercenaries very interesting from a trade perspective: Since the 1970s, this impoverished and remote remnant of the British Empire has positioned itself as a discount-soldier surplus store. Its best customer has been the United Nations' peacekeeping operations. Today, on the post-Sept. 11

The Return of PPMs

In defense of a proposed measure that would penalize production processes according to the amount of greenhouse gases they emit, to be imposed on both domestic and imported products, a French Minister says: ... France would press for an EU-wide surcharge that would ensure that the price of both domestic and

More From The Gambling 22.6 Arbitration

In earlier posts on the Gambling arbitration, I focused on the figures involved, but there is an underlying interpretive issue that is very interesting which, as far as I know, has not been addressed before. Antigua argues that the amount of nullification or impairment should be based on the failure

More (Alleged) Canadian Tax Breaks

As mentioned a little while ago, the U.S. seems to have decided not to challenge alleged Canadian tax incentives to lure TV and film production. But now the UK is alleging that Canada is using tax breaks to get video game producers to locate there: UK Culture Minister Margaret

American Versus European Legal Thought

This post from the Antitrust Review blog is a little off-topic, but I found it interesting, and perhaps other trade lawyers who have worked in both American and European legal systems will as well: ... legal scholarship in the US is dominated by an external or policy point of view, in

IEL Conference in New Zealand

For those in the neighborhood, or who want to take a nice trip, the New Zealand Centre of International Economic Law is holding its inaugural conference on 14-15 December 2007 in Wellington, New Zealand. The conference is entitled: International Economic Law and National Autonomy: Convergence or Divergence? The program is

Should the WTO Play a Role in Currency Issues?

Director-General Pascal Lamy says no: The World Trade Organization should not take on the job of deciding whether China or any other country is following an appropriate currency policy, the head of the WTO said on Monday. "This is something for the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and I would

Reimagining Free Trade (for Free)

Professor Roberto Unger has written "Free Trade Reimagined: The World Division of Labor and the Method of Economics," and it is posted online as a free PDF. From the web description: "Unger takes a new approach to show when international trade is likely to be useful or

Trade Rules and Tax Incentives for Locating Production

The Section 301 petition I mentioned a few weeks ago regarding Canadian subsidies to lure U.S. production of movies and TV shows has been rejected by USTR. The USTR press release says: "Based on a thorough review of the economic data, other facts, and legal arguments set out