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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

More Complaints About Indian Sugar Subsidies

A while back I mentioned that Bangladesh was accusing India of subsidizing sugar and "dumping" it abroad. Now others are asking questions as well: Leading global sugar producers have joined hands and approached the WTO, asking the multilateral body to seek details from India on subsidy to exporters

Progress on the Appellate Body Appointments

From one news reports: Taiwan may back away from its boycott of the placing of a Chinese judge on the World Trade Organization's top legal panel if the island is assured of fair treatment, a Taiwanese official said Sunday. And another: Taiwan on Sunday set a condition for

What Happens in Vegas ... Doesn't Happen in Massachusetts

While Nevada contemplates legalizing intra-state online gambling for its residents, Massachusetts contemplates banning online gambling entirely for its residents: Even as Governor Deval Patrick seeks to license three resort casinos in Massachusetts, he hopes to clamp down on the explosion in Internet gambling by making it illegal for state

Trade in Everything: International Shopping

The Boston Globe reports: ... America is one big discount bin, thanks to a weak dollar that slid this week to another record low against the euro. As a result, tourists are spending thousands to travel to the United States to snag blockbuster bargains on everything from iPods to designer clothes

What Happens in Vegas ...

We may see another WTO complaint by Antigua if this comes to pass: ... while a seemingly endless debate rages on in Congress over whether to legalize Internet gambling nationwide, some gaming interests are pursuing a different tack by appealing to Nevada regulators with the power to allow and oversee online

Appellate Body Update

A little news about the Appellate Body situation: Taiwan's decision to block the appointment of a Chinese judge to the World Trade Organisation's top court threatens an institutional crisis, a key official warned. ... 'I'm extremely concerned that if the situation persists much longer

"China's currency is undervalued and increased flexibility is 'essential' ...'"

No, that's not a quote from a U.S. Senator, but from a member of the People's Bank of China's monetary policy committee. Here's more from a Bloomberg article: China's yuan rose beyond 7.4 to the dollar for the

A Subsidy-Free Thanksgiving

I don't have a link for this because it came in an email (from AEI): America ’s farmers are highly productive, as Thursday’s Thanksgiving meal demonstrates. The Census Bureau reports that U.S. farmers this year will raise 272 million turkeys and produce 690 million pounds of

The Carbon Border Tax in Reverse?

Most of the talk about carbon border taxes involves imposing taxes/charges in a manner that might discriminate against China and other developing countries. But could China impose a border tax of its own? They might not be there quite yet, but they seem to be thinking about these kinds

More Criticism of the VAT Versus Income Tax Distinction

As noted in an earlier post, I don't know if this issue is building up momentum, but I seem to be coming across it quite a bit. This is from an op-ed in the Boston Globe: The second core problem is hidden foreign tariffs called value-added