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Simon Lester

Webinar on Institutionalising Global Challenges: A Transatlantic Trade and Technology Council

From City Law School in London (Thursday, 29 April 2021, 17:00 – 18:30, register here): The EU’s proposed EU-US Joint Agenda for Global Change includes a Transatlantic Trade and Technology Council, proposing a loose institutionalisation of key global challenges currently not well covered or dealt with by, for

Remembering Miguel Rodríguez Mendoza

We are sad to report that Miguel Rodríguez Mendoza has passed away. Jorge Castro of the WTO prepared the following note of remembrance: Miguel Rodríguez Mendoza (Cumaná, Venezuela, 28 March 1948 – Geneva, Switzerland, 25 April 2021) Miguel Rodríguez had a distinguished career in international trade. He was Venezuela's

Where Will Biden's USTR Trade Policy Team Take U.S. Trade Policy?

Over the past few days, we have had some new announcements about staffing at USTR, and the Biden administration trade policy team is almost complete now. There are still the important Deputy USTR in Geneva and Chief Agriculture Negotiator positions to fill (as well as some other USTR and possibly

Tim Meyer Responds on Exceptions and "Mixed Motives"

This is a response from Tim Meyer to my post on his new article Many thanks to Simon for his thoughtful take on my new article, A Political Theory of Legal Exceptions, as well as the opportunity to respond. Simon and I do agree on a lot. Most notably, we

Tim Meyer on Exceptions and "Mixed Motives"

My friend Tim Meyer has a new paper entitled "A Political Theory of Legal Exceptions." Back before the pandemic, Tim and I and a few others submitted a proposal for a SIEL 2020 panel entitled "Making Space for Public Policy in International Economic Law Agreements: The Role

Assigning Blame for the Impact of COVID-19 on Developing Countries: Markets or Governments

This is from remarks by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai yesterday at a WTO virtual conference on COVID-19 vaccine equity: We hope to hear more today about how the market once again has failed in meeting the health needs of developing countries. As part of that we have to

Is USTR Ready To Revisit Necessity Tests?

This is from remarks by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai today on issues related to trade and the environment: Even as investors take a greater interest in companies’ environmental risk exposure, the multilateral trading system has no rules to address the corporate incentive to participate in the race to

Digital Trade Agreements and Domestic Policy

I did a series of posts recently on digital trade issues, and I have now consolidated them all into a short Cato paper. Here's the intro: National debates over policies that affect the flow of digital information are heating up as censorship, surveillance, control over personal data, and

SIEL April Conversation: Special and Differential Treatment under WTO

From the SIEL: The Society of International Economic Law (SIEL) is pleased to invite you to its February Conversation entitled ‘Special and Differential Treatment under WTO’, with Dr Rashmi Banga (UNCTAD), Prof. Jan Wouters (KU Leuven), Dr Inu Manak (Cato Institute), Vineet Hegde (KU Leuven), chaired and moderated by Jan

Are GPA Arbitrations Confidential?

Inside US Trade has been reporting on a U.S. request to modify its GPA commitments so as to exclude certain medical products. Back in December 2020, there was this: "The U.S. notified the World Trade Organization last week that it intends to remove certain essential medicines and