Trachtman

There is a panel on trade at Davos, among 229 panels.  But there is also a panel on "The Scent of Success," "Classic Clarets," and "Reveal Your True Colours."  My personal favorite, from a very quick scan:  "Brands:  Today's Gods."

Chavez is planning on causing Venezuela to nationalize all energy production assets.  See the CNN story.  See Chris Borgen's take at opinio juris.  There'll be a lot to fight about with respect to compensation. As we hav epointed out earlier, Venezuela does not have a BIT

See Peter Spiro's story on Opinio Juris about the big retailers' (Walmart, Tesco, etc.) Global Social Compliance Program.  I had not heard of this one.  It is interesting that the retailers would join together to set standards for their suppliers.  Is it intended to take the wind

On December 29, President Bush took the final step, authorized by legislation signed December 20, to provide MFN treatment to Vietnamese goods.  At the same time, the U.S. Commerce Department is discussing a special textiles monitoring arrangement, applicable only to Vietnam.  This raises a good question about the scope

I was recently asked whether Israel's large excise tax on automobiles, applied at the border, raises WTO law issues.  Israel has no domestic production of automobiles, so the tax de facto only applies to imports.  However, it is by definition non-discriminatory, because there is not domestic production

Wednesday's FT reports that Angela Merkel is seeking greater regulatory harmonization between the US and EU, as Germany begins its presidency of the EU.  This initiative is alternatively referenced as "transatlantic co-operation", a "transatlantic partnership", and a move toward a "transatlantic single

See the USTR report that is the basis for Susan Schwab's recent criticisms of China's trade policy.

In a case about to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, Credit Suisse v. Billing, an issue of conflict between regulatory regimes will be addressed.  The two regimes are the U.S. antitrust laws and the U.S. securities laws.  The type of conflict is that the U.

See the cool post by Roger Alford at Opinio Juris.  It'll make your head spin.

This paper came across on SSRN, and looks interesting, both in terms of the subject it describes, and the method by which it evaluates the benefits of this convention. "Innovation in International Law and Global Finance: Estimating the Financial Impact of the Cape Town Convention" Author: ANTHONY SAUNDERS