The Faroe Islands' WTO complaint against the EU related to herring is going to be really interesting.  We might finally get some guidance on an issue I find challenging:  How to deal with "coercive economic measures."  Here's how the panel request in the case starts:

From the European Commission: EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht today announced his decision to consult the public on the investment provisions of a future EU-US trade deal, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The decision follows unprecedented public interest in the talks. It also reflects

From today's Presidential Policy Directive on Signals Intelligence Activities: (c) The collection of foreign private commercial information or trade secrets is authorized only to protect the national security of the United States or its partners and allies. It is not an authorized foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purpose to

If I had been blogging in 1990, I probably would have commented on this statement by the Thailand - Cigarettes GATT panel: 73. The Panel then defined the issues which arose under this provision. In agreement with the parties to the dispute and the expert from the WHO, the Panel accepted

The other day I wondered about whether there was a middle ground to be found on currency issues, trying to balance out the views of certain members of Congress and U.S. trading partners.  As reported by the NY Times, the same issue may arise for the environment: The Obama

I posted recently about what "regulatory trade barriers," a term that gets thrown around a lot in the context of the TTIP negotiations, might mean.  Trade lawyer Ted Posner offered up a comment, and I wanted to respond to a couple of his points.  (And by the way,

This Monday I will have a free-ranging debate about the Bali result and the future of the WTO with Bernard Hoekman and Petros Mavroidis (David Palmeter will moderate).  The debate will be webcast live 1730-1615 CET (Florence time) from the Global Governance Programme at the European University Institute.

Here's the relevant text: (11) CURRENCY.—The principal negotiating objective of the United States with respect to currency practices is that parties to a trade agreement with the United States avoid manipulating exchange rates in order to prevent effective balance of payments adjustment or to gain an unfair

From an article by law profs Susy Frankel and Daniel Gervais: The Australian plain packaging measures go practically as far as one can go in terms of imposing encumbrances on trademark owners. If, as just mentioned, the rights and interests of trademark owners are best seen as a continuum, then

This is from the TPA bill introduced in Congress today: SEC. 8. SOVEREIGNTY. (a) UNITED STATES LAW TO PREVAIL IN EVENT OF CONFLICT.—No provision of any trade agreement entered into under section 3(b), nor the application of any such provision to any person or circumstance, that is inconsistent