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Simon Lester

A Few Quick Thoughts on the "Rebalancing" Provisions in the "Level Playing Field" Section of the UK-EU Trade Agreement

As a Christmas gift of sorts, the UK and EU gave us their new trade agreement yesterday (still needs to undergo a legal scrub I think). There is a long section on creating a "level playing field." Here is a key bit of the part relating to "

Countervailing Weak Environmental Protections

This is from a Draft Ministerial Decision submitted by the U.S. under the title "Advancing Sustainability Goals through Trade Rules to Level the Playing Field": Believing that no Member should gain a comparative advantage in trade due to insufficient or unenforced environmental laws, regulations, and standards; ... Recognizing

Some Comments on the Trump Administration's Final Statement to the DSB on the Appellate Body

In what may be the last official statement by the Trump administration on the Appellate Body, Ambassador Shea offered these comments at the December 18 DSB meeting. I have some responses to his comments. I will do this in three parts, quoting him and then responding. First up, he said

GSP and GSP Conditionality under the Trump Administration

I am somewhat of a skeptic on giving tariff preferences to developing countries, because my instinct is that discrimination in trade relations is bad and should generally be avoided. But with GSP programs, the goal is development and the means is lowering tariffs, and I can see how there would

Guest Post: Leveraging Capacity Building and Technology Transfer under TRIPS for Online Teaching in Africa

This is a guest post by Susan Isiko Štrba of International Lawyers and Economists for Development: COVID-19 caused a number of learning institutions, especially in the developing world, to come to a stand still. On the other hand, developing countries faithfully domesticated international Intellectual Property (IP) standards in an effort

The Official Announcement of Biden's Nomination of Katherine Tai

Here was President-Elect Biden's introduction of Katherine Tai as his nominee for U.S. Trade Representative (starts at 14:42): For the United States Trade Representative, I nominate Katherine Tai, a trusted trade expert, a dedicated public servant who knows government, and who has spent her career levelling

Katherine Tai Will Be the Next U.S. Trade Representative

Reports indicate that Katherine Tai, Chief Trade Counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee, is Biden's choice for U.S. Trade Representative. About a month ago, I wrote the following: the job of the next U.S. Trade Representative will be a serious challenge. The person who

The First USMCA Complaint

The first USMCA consultations request is here. Not surprisingly, it relates to Canadian dairy TRQs, a frequent source of trade irritation. Is there a violation? I have no idea! Some of the issues seem factual in nature. For example, there is a claim under this provision: 11. A Party administering

Specificity in DOC Currency Undervaluation Findings

A couple weeks ago, Jesse Kreier wrote about the Commerce Department's decision to treat currency undervaluation as a countervailable subsidy in a case against tires from Viet Nam. As he explained it, one aspect of the Commerce Department's reasoning was related to the specificity of the

Katherine Tai on Various Trade Policy Issues: China, Supply Chains, A Biden Administration Trade Agenda, USMCA, WTO, ISDS

It's hard to know what to make of the reporting on who might be the next U.S. Trade Representative, which has mentioned a wide range of possible candidates, but I've seen two Politico articles describing support for Katherine Tai, the Chief Trade Counsel for the