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Simon Lester

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

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,

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

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

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

No Search For You!

I don't know what China's GATS commitments are in this area, but at least in principle this seems like a national treatment violation if the government was involved: US Internet search engines in China were being hijacked and directed to Chinese-owned Baidu, analysts said Wednesday,

Ron Paul on Trade Agreements

He's not a leading candidate, but Ron Paul does have a devoted group of libertarian followers. His view on trade, as I understand it, is that we should practice free trade, but we don't need trade agreements and international institutions to accomplish this. But this statement