From Politico: America’s relationship with the World Trade Organization is about to get a lot more complicated. President-elect Donald Trump already has threatened to withdraw from the Geneva-based organization, but his selection of Robert Lighthizer to be the next U.S. Trade Representative last week increases the odds that

As of Monday, when Russia filed an appeal in the DS479 dispute, there were seven ongoing WTO appeals. That will end soon, as the Appellate Body is scheduled to circulate its report in the Russia - Pigs case by February 23, but I'm going to declare here on

In the process of moving to a new approach to international investment law and dispute settlement, India has elaborated a model BIT that differs significantly from older agreements.  It is much more balanced between investor interests and those of legitimate public policy.  The model BIT, for instance, contains a tightly-drafted

The Future of Trade Defence Instruments: Global Policy Trends and Legal Challenges conference will take place in Brussels from March 30-31, 2017. It is jointly organized by the University of Passau, the Europa-Institut Saarbrücken, the Institute of European and International Economic Law & the World Trade Institute - University of

From the WSJ: The Trump administration is considering changing the way it calculates U.S. trade deficits, a shift that would make the country’s trade gap appear larger than it had in past years, according to people involved in the discussions. The leading idea under consideration would exclude from

From the NY Times: Cookies and sugary drinks served at government meetings are about to go away. So are imported noodles and canned fish served in tourist bungalows. Taking their place? Local coconuts, lobsters and lime juice. While many governments struggle to ban soda to curb obesity, the tiny Torba

For anyone who has ever lived in, or traveled to, Canada, there is one indisputable fact—buying liquor is a challenge. Rules have slowly been relaxed, however, with wine sales in groceries stores leading the way.  I remember a trip to Toronto a few years back where a “store within

Canadian heartthrob and panda-lover (and Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau was in DC yesterday to meet with President Trump, and there were some brief discussions of trade: PRESIDENT TRUMP:  ... We have a very outstanding trade relationship with Canada.  We’ll be tweaking it.  We’ll be doing certain things that are

From the WSJ: The White House is exploring a new tactic to discourage China from undervaluing its currency to boost exports, part of an evolving Trump administration strategy to challenge the practices of the U.S.’s largest trading partner while stepping back from direct confrontation. Under the plan, the

We've heard many times now from Trump and his advisers that they will be pursuing bilateral trade agreements. For example, in withdrawing from the TPP, Trump said this: it is the intention of my Administration to deal directly with individual countries on a one-on-one (or bilateral) basis in