There are a number of terms in the trade field that bug me because of their lack of clarity.  Different people use terms in different ways, and that makes for an ambiguous public discussion of the issues.  One example of this problem is the term "market access." The

By the way, it turns out some blog comments are being sent to a "comment spam" folder. My apologies if that has happened to you.  A comment I just discovered mentions a 2012 study about consumer opinion on mandatory country of origin labeling, a summary of which is

I feel like there's a trade complaint in here somewhere, but I'm not sure exactly what it is (it probably involves looking closely at GATS commitments): A European effort to bar the use of potentially hazardous ship recyclers in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh has run aground,

Here's an excerpt from a letter by Senator Elizabeth Warren to USTR nominee Mike Froman: While I have no doubt that the President's commitment to openness is genuine, I am concerned about the Administration's record of transparency regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Specifically, I am

I think I can safely assume that everyone has heard about the U.S. government program which uses American internet companies to access the online activities of non-Americans, so I won't get into the details.  Not surprisingly, there have been some concerns expressed by law-makers outside of the

That's the subject of a long-running court battle.  Apparently, during the FTAA talks, USTR wrote a "white paper" in which it offered commentary on the interpretation of the phrase "in like circumstances" in the context of the investment chapter.  The Center for International Environmental

... are posted here: The Secretariat of the WTO is seeking to fill the position of Director, Trade and Environment Division. Serving staff members interested in the position are also invited to apply. and here: The Secretariat of the WTO is seeking to fill the position of Chief Economist and Director,

I don't have a link or an exact quote, but I was watching the confirmation hearing for USTR nominee Mike Froman, and Sen. Sherrod Brown (a trade critic) asked something along these lines:  Given that EU property rights protection is pretty good, do we need investor-state in the

Recall that Japan was one of the complainants in the Ontario feed-in tariff WTO case.  As the Washington Post explains, Japan has a similar program: The tariff, launched in July, obligates utility companies to buy electricity from renewable sources — solar, wind and geothermal, for example — at fixed prices. In most

From my friends at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the World Trade Institute: The Law Faculty of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the World Trade Institute of the University of Bern in Switzerland (WTI), are jointly organizing the second edition of the Summer Programme on International