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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

From Last Night's Republican Debate

Some trade questions from last night's Republican Presidential debate: On agriculture subsidies: Ted Faturos: Hi, I'm Ted Faturos from Manhattan Beach, California. Mmmmmm, nothing says delicious like cheap corn subsidized by the American taxpayer. For a lot of Americans, however, a bitter taste is left in

Coming Soon: The Brazil - Tyres AB Report

On December 3, the Appellate Body is scheduled to issue the Brazil - Tyres report. There will be a lot of things said about GATT Article XX, all of which should be interesting and informative. In addition, though, there is a slight posssiblity that the AB will clarify GATT Article XXIV

Categories

I've added categories to the blog (see previous post for an example). It would be too much to go back and classify all the previous posts (510 of them) in particular categories, but hopefully this will be useful going forward.

Environmental Dumping?

This sounds like something along the lines of what Joseph Stiglitz had in mind: [The European Parliament invites the European Commission] to consider whether it would be appropriate to evaluate the rules on trade defence measures, such as the rules on anti-dumping or subsidies, under the WTO aegis, with

Ben Muse: New Blog Location

Ben Muse is moving his trade posts to a new blog, called "The Custom-House." He explains here; the new blog is here.

Antigua Did It. Why Not Fiji?

In the Gambling case, Antigua has done a good job of demonstrating that a small country can have some success in bringing a WTO complaint. Maybe Fiji will follow their example: The chairman of Fiji’s Kava Council Ratu Josateki Nawalowalo, says he will continue to pursue a meeting with

Appellate Body Members Appointed

According to a WTO press release (as also mentioned by Jalal Alavi in the comments), the four new Appellate Body Members have been appointed: The WTO Dispute Settlement Body appointed today (27 November 2007) the following four new members to the seven-member Appellate Body: Ms Lilia R. Bautista of

Trade Versus Environment: Biofuels Again

A New Zealand perspective: Biofuel companies say it would make more sense for them to build plants in subsidised US cornfields than in New Zealand to meet new biofuel sales quotas. They're pressing for protection from US-made competitors who they say could crowd out the market, as

Sweatshops: "One of the Trickiest Issues in International Trade"

That is what Dani Rodrik calls them. His post is commenting on a NY Times article describing how a NY utility company and government agency recently became aware of the conditions under which their manhole covers were made: Seemingly impervious to the heat from the metal, the workers at one

The Trade Impact of the Writers' Strike

Tyler Cowen quotes a couple articles suggesting that the U.S. writers' strike could, in theory, benefit Canadian entertainment industries, in two ways. First, it could help Canadian shows gain viewers in the home market, as there is suddenly less U.S. competition. And second, it could help Canadians