Trachtman

From Inside U.S. Trade: U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said at a July 1 press conference ministers had failed to "find closure or even narrow the range" of differences on any aspects of how sensitive and special agriculture products should be designated and treated. "The

Today's FT reports that the WTO negotiations are bogged down.  Not a surprise, and it reinforces a kind of facile comparison to the Uruguay Round.  Oh yes, agricultural brinksmanship again.  The parties are playing chicken and the one with the most to lose will swerve at the last

Today's FT reports on the flaring of textiles as an issue, with the U.S. partially backing Turkey's position that textiles should be a separate sector, while the EU argues the opposite.  Much of the rest of this article (p. 2) is consumed with the debate

ILuke Peterson of IISD asks:   My question relates to the bilateral negotiations which occur as part of the WTO accession process. I was wondering if there is any precedent for governments to demand non-trade-related concessions of prospective members? For example, might the EU demand that Country X sign

The G8 has just finished another meeting, and reaffirmed its commitments to the Millennium Development Goals--or at least its commitment to encouraging others to meet their commitments.  This reminded me of a refreshing film that I almost saw once, "The Girl in the Cafe."  It is a

As the world's most exciting sports event begins, I was hoping to conjure up a link to IEL.  How about this.  National teams are limited to nationals.  The team administrators obviously discriminate in the national treatment sense against foreign players.  Would this violate a GATS commitment in the

Airbus has filed a motion to enjoin Wilmer Hale and Marco Bronckers from representing Boeing, in light of Bronckers' earlier work for Airbus.    Interestingly, the basis for Airbus' claim is the Washington DC Rules of Professional Conduct, which I suppose are being applied to the Wilmer Hale firm.

See the open letter  on immigration reform from economists and other social scientists at Marginal Revolution.  There is still a debate on the national welfare effects of increased immigration, based on empirical work by Borjas versus that by Card.  On the other hand, in at least some respects, from a

Another investment banker.  News reports have Robert Zoellick leaving the State Department for Merrill Lynch.  I was disappointed when he left USTR, but recognized that State had bigger fish to fry.  Forgive my venting, and apologies to my friends in investment banking, but it is painful to watch one of

The U.S., in a document delivered to the WTO on May 9, cites our humble blog.  You can't buy this kind of publicity.  Of course, the U.S. cites the blog to underscore that even those (Sungjoon Cho) who don't like zeroing believe the decision