Via Benn McGrady, here's an op-ed from trade lawyer Simon Lacey explaining his advice to the Indonesian government on whether to file a WTO complaint against Australia's plain packaging law: A few months ago I was asked to provide a legal opinion on whether or not

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned the different views of the US and EU on how the TTIP talks should deal with regulatory issues. Now we have dueling speeches by the head trade officials of each side. In a nutshell, as set out by US Trade Representative Mike Froman, the

We talked about the EU's proposed Tobacco Products Directive here, here, and here.  The EU measure is moving ahead, and here are some details about what they will be doing: - The sale of cigarettes in packets of 10 is expected to be banned by 2016 - Menthol

Among the reasons I was positive about the choice of Roberto Azevedo as WTO DG was his extensive experience with the dispute settlement process in the WTO, perhaps its most important and certainly most successful function today.  I was very surprised by a recent report in an Indian newspaper that

Another conversation I had in Geneva was about the Plain Packaging case and the right to use trademarks.  We've talked about this issue on this blog before.  Do trademark holders have a right to use those trademarks?  Or simply a right to prevent others from using a similar

Last week, I was at the WTO public forum, talking about online higher education.  One of the themes was that putting education online makes education tradable like it never has been before. I had been assuming that online education would fall within the GATS as trade in services, but someone

Todd Weiler has written a fascinating book on international investment law.  He has done extensive research on negotiating history, which I always enjoy.  It's the kind of book where you read each footnote carefully, because there are important nuggets of information in each one. As much as I

From USTR: United States Trade Representative Michael Froman and Mongolia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Luvsanvandan Bold, today signed an Agreement on Transparency in Matters Related to International Trade and Investment between the United States of America and Mongolia at a ceremony in New York. The U.S.-Mongolia

From USA Today: China's richest man plans to spend 50 billion yuan ($8.2 billion) to build the country's version of Hollywood in the northeastern city of Qingdao. In a glitzy, star-studded red carpet event on Sunday, Wang Jianlin said his company, Dalian Wanda Group, will

Inside US Trade spells out the different approaches by the EU and U.S. to dealing with regulatory trade barriers in the T-TIP.  The EU: The emphasis of the European Commission is on an approach that would entail mutual recognition and other commitments on existing regulations affecting specific industry sectors