International Economic Law and Policy Blog (Page 355)

Sign in Subscribe

Expropriation Through Taxation?

From AFP: US-owned bottled water giant Fiji Water shut down operations in the military-ruled Pacific nation Monday, branding it "increasingly unstable" and a risky place to do business. Fiji Water president John Cochran condemned the government's decision last week to hike taxes on the

Is there something wrong with this picture? (as painted by the Panel in US-AD/CVD)

I have finally finished reading the Panel report in DS379. What an amazing decision! The Panel has effectively declared the second largest economy in the world as a completely distorted one for the purpose of the SCM. The following are some key points of the decision, and their possible implications:

Report on the EU and U.S. Oral Statements in the WTO Airbus Dispute

For those who couldn't make it to Geneva and view the Appellate Body oral hearing in the WTO Airbus dispute, you are in luck. Malorie Schaus (malorie.schaus [at] graduateinstitute.ch) and Tobiasz Kaczor (tobiasz.kaczor [at] gmail.com) of the Graduate Institute in Geneva attended the public

More on Thai Liquor Labeling

As mentioned here, a number of WTO Members recently raised concerns in the TBT Committee regarding Thai liquor labeling measures: Alcohol companies world-wide are lining up to fight a Thai plan to require graphic warning labels about alcohol on the country's domestic and imported beer, wine and

Non-Discrimination Standards: More on Discriminatory Effect and Individual Products

This is from the EU first written submission in the Philippines - Distilled Spirits case (DS396 for the EC case, DS403 for the parallel U.S. complaint): 105. In the light of the above, it is useful to recall once again that the vast majority of imported products are subject to

Pascal Lamy on Macroeconomic Imbalances

From a recent speech: The stimulus worked: Coordinated fiscal and monetary stimulus has worked to bring back the global economy from the edge of a depression. But unemployment is still a problem, and this is at the heart of the "imbalances" issue: What lies behind concerns about macro-

Trade in Everything: Electronic Waste

From CBS News: Up to 1.2 million second-hand TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners were estimated to have entered the Philippines between 2001 and 2005, and according to a study by Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Philippine Board of Investment, 60-70 percent of it all

Google Paper on Free Trade and the Internet

Last week, Google posted a paper entitled "Enabling Trade in the Era of Information Technologies: Breaking Down Barriers to the Free Flow of Information." There's a Technical Appendix (p. 17 of the document) called "Applicability of the WTO rules to restrictions on free flow of

Do Kids Smoke Clove Cigarettes?

This may be a key issue in the U.S. - Clove Cigarettes case (DS406). (See this link for some past posts on the case). Briefly, the case is about whether the U.S. ban on clove cigarettes (produced mainly in Indonesia), but not menthol cigarettes (produced mainly in the U.

New Zealand, the TPP and Investor-State

From Eyes on Trade: Today's edition of Inside U.S. Trade (subscription only) reports that the Prime Minister of New Zealand, one of the negotiating parties of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), stated that a NAFTA-style investor-state lawsuit provision will likely be excluded from the TPP: