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Simon Lester

Webinar on the European Commission White Paper on Foreign Subsidies

Here are the details for a webinar presented by the Centre of European Law, King’s College London & George Washington University Law School (register here): Webinar – Towards a European Economic Sovereignty? Some reflections on the Commission White Paper on Foreign Subsidies - 1 December 2020 The European Commission is

Deborah Elms on the Absence of ISDS, Prospects for a Secretariat, and Dispute Settlement in RCEP

There has been lots of talk about RCEP these past few days. For Asian trade issues, I always listen closely to what Deborah Elms has to say. She just did an episode of the Trade Talks Podcast on RCEP, and I wanted to highlight three things she said there. First,

A Few Interesting Aspects of the RCEP Legal Text

The RCEP legal text has just been released. I don't have a sense at this point of how much liberalization is involved in this agreement, but skimming through the various chapters, I found a number of tidbits worth noting. 1. There's an interesting "general review&

The Biden-Harris USTR Agency Review Team

The Biden-Harris transition team just posted agency review teams here. They describe these teams as follows: Agency review teams are responsible for understanding the operations of each agency, ensuring a smooth transfer of power, and preparing for President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris and their cabinet to hit the ground

Trade Policy in a Biden Administration: Online Event this Thursday

There are sure to be lots of events coming on trade policy in a Biden administration. I'll be hosting a Cato one on Thursday, November 12, at 12:30 p.m. EST. The link is here. Here is the description: Trade Policy in a Biden Administration: Back to

5th SIEL Conversation - The Impact of Covid-19 on the Belt and Road Initiative

From the SIEL: 5th SIEL Conversation -The Impact of Covid-19 on the Belt and Road Initiative Moderator: Suresh Nanwani, Professor in Practice, Durham University, School of Government and International Affairs Speakers: Date: The event is scheduled for Thursday, 19 November 2020 at the following times, and more information can be

U.S. Trade Policy After Trump: Some Preliminary Thoughts

The past few days have been quite an experience. I hope everyone was able to get a good night's sleep and is on the way to recovery! The election of Joe Biden as president has implications beyond trade policy, but this blog is about trade, so I'

Making Appellate Review Optional

My last post was about how WTO appellate review could be made optional as a temporary solution in order to unblock Appellate Body appointments (i.e., to convince the U.S. to go along with appointing new AB Members). Here's a drafting suggestion for how to put that

A Proposal from Alan Wolff on WTO Dispute Settlement

This is from a recent speech by WTO DDG Alan Wolff: For dispute settlement, agreement will in the end be needed on a single mechanism to which all who seek to litigate would subscribe. Any appellate stage must be accountable to the WTO Members as a whole. There are interim

Webinar: The Roadmap to the ASEAN-EU FTA in the Post-Pandemic Era

Webinar: The Roadmap to the ASEAN-EU FTA in the Post-Pandemic Era Singapore Management University School of Law; 3-4 December 2020 The ASEAN-EU relations represent the world’s most important interregional framework. Rising populist protectionism, stalled WTO negotiations and the COVID-19 pandemic have posed challenges to trade and investment ties between