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PPMs in Seal Products

From the EU second written submission: There's a policy issue here which may not have been in the drafters' minds when they wrote the definition of "technical regulation".  When you ban an input product, are you therefore regulating all finished products that use the input?
Simon Lester 22 Apr 2013 1 min read

Non-Harmless Error: A Response to Rod Abbott on the DG Selection Irregularities

Thank you for your response to my post. Let's start with the facts.  The Chair himself has said that there was a "deviation" from the procedure agreed.  You, however, begin rhetorically, by referring to "conspiracies."  I never used that word.  Instead I offered a
Rob Howse 22 Apr 2013 2 min read

Atavists or Come-Back Kids? The Neo-Liberals Talk Trade in Qatar (Not All Bad)

Tomorrow (April 22) the International Chamber of Commerce will hold its World Trade Agenda Summit in,of all places, Doha, Qatar. A key document for the Summit is a report produced under the auspices of the Peterson Institute, a kind of updated catechism of neo-liberalism, "Payoff From the World
Rob Howse 21 Apr 2013 2 min read

A Response to Annon's Comment on the Irregularities in the DG Selection Procedure

Thank you for your comment in response to my post. Here is my reply. First of all, according to this news article  http://bit.ly/ZEQiAs the Chair Mr. Bashir has admitted that some Members gave five preferences.  Secondly, the EU has, to my knowledge issued no denial that it
Rob Howse 20 Apr 2013 1 min read

Puzzling Out Troika Complicitly in EU Manipulation of DG Selection Process

Here also I have no really strong theory (and no leads this time).  Though I wonder how close Blanco and Jonathan Fried became when they were negotiating NAFTA.  Each was the chief negotiator for their own country-strong loyalties can be cemented that way, especially when the talks are successful.  I
Rob Howse 19 Apr 2013 1 min read

Hell Hath No Fury Like Europa (or Lamy) Scorned: Why the EU May Have Subverted the DG Selection Process

One of the issues I didn't address in my previous posts on the irregularities alleged by Kenya in the WTO DG selection process, is why the EU would want to subvert the process to keep African candidates out of the race.  The reason is that I didn'
Rob Howse 19 Apr 2013 1 min read

WTO Document Reveals that Kenya has Clear Case of Procedural Violation

An examination of the relevant WTO document http://bit.ly/16SQhPy shows that Kenya has a pretty clear-cut case that procedures were violated when the EU was allowed to express five preferences in the first round of DG selection, such that it could effectively ensure the elimination of African candidates
Rob Howse 19 Apr 2013 1 min read

The Relationship of GATT Article III:4 and TBT Article 2.1

This is from the second EU written submission in the Seal Products case: The legal standard under Articles I:1 and III:4 of the GATT 1994 and Article 2.1 of the TBT Agreement with respect to their non-discrimination obligations is fundamentally the same In support of this view,
Simon Lester 19 Apr 2013 1 min read

Kenya Letter to Chair of WTO General Council: Specific Claims of EU Subversion of DG Selection Process

According to this news article http://bit.ly/14zrBNB, Kenya has sent a strongly worded letter to the Chair of the WTO General Council alleging specific irregularities in the round one selection process that resulted in both African candidates, including the impressive Kenyan Amina Mohamed, being eliminated from the race.
Rob Howse 18 Apr 2013 1 min read

What Are Local Content Requirements?

I always thought of a "local content requirement" as a requirement that a producer ensure that a certain percentage of inputs in the production process come from local sources. But USTR seems to be using the term differently: APEC Breaking Ground on Local Content Requirements Ahead of High-Level
Simon Lester 18 Apr 2013 1 min read

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War Tariffs

This is a co-authored post by Kathleen Claussen and Tim Meyer. Last week, President Trump announced that the United States would be imposing new tariffs of 50 percent of the value of any product coming from any country that sells weapons or provides military aid to Iran. Some commentators questioned
14 Apr 2026 5 min read

USMCA Review and Extension Predictions

When the idea of an expiration clause was suggested during the NAFTA renegotiation, I was against it from the start, and Inu and I wrote a pretty critical piece about it at the time. A review is great, we said, let's definitely have reviews, and there are plenty of ways to do that.
08 Apr 2026 5 min read

The Section 301 Surge Continues: Investigating the Adoption/Enforcement/Administration of Forced Labor Import Bans

This Section 301 investigation intends to pressure all sixty named trade partners (even, inexplicably, including Canada and Mexico) to adopt similar enforcement procedures. This announcement is highly problematic for the four reasons I address below.
16 Mar 2026 4 min read

The Section 301 Surge Is Upon Us: Investigating Excess Capacity and Production

The first of a large batch of expected Section 301 investigations has arrived, as USTR announced yesterday that it was initiating investigations on acts, policies, and practices of various countries/economies "relating to structural excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors."
12 Mar 2026 3 min read

Debunking the "Hyperglobalization" Trade Policy Myth

Policy is often shaped by narratives, and recently there has been a bipartisan effort to create a narrative that, starting in the early 1990s, globalization and free trade went too far.
03 Mar 2026 8 min read

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