Simon Lester

For those who oppose the Iraq war, there is some small consolation if you also oppose farm subsidies: US Agriculture Committee head Tom Harkin says farm subsidies are likely to be reduced, because the Iraq war is becoming a "black hole" in the US Budget. Mr Harkin says

In an op-ed published in the WSJ (here's a version re-published on another site: http://www.truthabouttrade.org/article.asp?id=6820 ), former USTR Robert Zoellick has called for a new trade initiative in the Americas: This year President Bush and the Democratic-led Congress should

For those who will be in Brussels on January 23, there is an interesting seminar entitled, "Are developing countries deterred from using the WTO dispute settlement mechanism?"  Here is a link with more info and here is a brief description: The dispute settlement mechanism (DSM) is the backbone

From J alal Alavi:King's College of London University is organizing its first International Graduate Legal Research Conference. Information on the Conference, including its "Call for Papers" is available through http://www.iglrc.com/

Jimmy Buffett doesn't have to worry about the interpretation of GATT Article XX(g) or the chapeau.  He can just take matters into his own hands: Margaritaville Cafés, restaurants owned by Jimmy Buffett, will no longer serve Canadian seafood until Canada ends its annual slaughter of seals, according

Inside U.S. Trade, through its China Trade Extra, is doing some blogging from China (I don't know if this is a permanent feature, or just something temporary they are doing in relation to the Strategic Economic Dialogue), and they recount the following story: Reporters here received an

We've had a few discussions on this blog about the possibility of the EU imposing trade restrictions on countries that are not doing enough to clean up the environment (see here, here and here).  According to the FT, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has rejected the idea: The

Jalal Alavi, a frequent commenter on this blog, suggested posting the following: A Survey on Public Opinion The newly released survey of German Marshall Fund of the United States “Perspectives on Trade and Poverty Reduction”   was presented in the WTO today(13.12.2006). GMF has surveyed seven countries (France,

Bloomberg reports: Pakistan plans to challenge European Union trade policy for poor nations through the World Trade Organization, concerned that among India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, it's the only one not given equal advantages. In April 2004, WTO judges said the EU could exempt Latin American nations and

The Economist has an excellent article this week about food politics.  What I liked about it was that it brings the technical legal issues from the GMOs and other similar cases into a real world context.  Much of the debate in trade law circles involves government regulation, as well as