I would not have thought so, but political scientists Ryan Brutger and Julia Morse have data that says so: Abstract: Can international courts ever be independent of state influence? If not, how do courts manage the tension between legal principles and political concerns? We address these questions through an analysis

From a political science paper by Fouad Pervez: What explains the variation in timing of WTO disputes over antidumping duties? Without a clear domestic opposition group, countries have incentives to bring up disputes as quickly as possible so as to limit the harm to their domestic industries subject to these

The 15th BIICL WTO conference will be held in London on May 6 and 7.  Details are here, and a draft program is here.  I'll be chairing a roundtable on regulatory trade issues, but if that doesn't excite you, there are also lots of other panels:

I've put together a Cato policy forum on telemedicine, May 28 in DC.  This goes beyond international trade.  I'll have some things to say about trade, but then we'll get into more general health policy and con law issues: In the United States and

This is President Obama talking about ISDS: "This is the notion that corporate America will be able to use this provision to eliminate our financial regulations and our food safety regulations and our consumer regulations. That’s just bunk. It’s not true. “ISDS is a form of dispute

I'm not going to stop criticizing ISDS, but while it is still here (and that may be for a long time), I'm going to look for ways to use it to promote my political preferences.  Here's an example: “THEY are jealous,” says Terry Branstad,

This is a guest post from trade lawyer Adarsh Ramanujan : The Appellate Body, in its report circulated on April 7, 2015, rejected Viet Nam’s appeal in US – Shrimp II (Viet Nam) (DS429). The appeal was limited to one Article 11, DSU claim, covering the Panel’s rejection of Vietnam’

In the previous “Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act”, the benefit to the recipient from an undervalued currency was defined in an intuitive way. According to this Act, a benefit exists in the case of an undervalued currency: ... if the exporter or producer receives or is entitled to receive more

It's booming, at least in fantasy sports: The daily fantasy sports boom began somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean in March 2009. On a trip from Britain to Texas, flying to the South by Southwest festival, Eccles pored through a copy of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA)

I was watching the Senate Finance Committee markup of the TPA bill last night -- I really enjoy the "voice votes," where they all speak as loudly as they can! -- and I was struck by an exchange between Senator Sherrod Brown and USTR General Counsel Tim Reif.  Brown was