International Economic Law and Policy Blog (Page 360)

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Krugman on Quantitative Easing and Currencies

He seems to take the same "aim and effect" (as Julia referred to it) approach to the issue that I do: In various comments and other places I keep seeing people compare European complaints about the weak dollar to American complaints about the undervalued renminbi. It’s a

The U.S. Investigation of China's Clean Energy Subsidies

Reuters reports: China on Saturday hit back at U.S. government action to investigate a labour union's charges that it subsidises its green technology producers, saying the move sends a wrong signal on trade protectionism. The U.S. probe will look into whether Chinese support for its clean

Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy and Currency Values

I've thought a bit more about the previous post where I suggested that not all measures affecting currencies should lead to fears of a "currency war". I'm not much of an expert in this area, and I'm happy to have someone explain

Alternative Approaches to Causation

In the Journal of World Trade (and free on SSRN), Dukgeun Ahn and William J. Moon argue for a new approach to the causation standard in trade remedy investigations, which they call the "Cost of Production" test. Here's an excerpt: We argue that correlation, in a

Copenhagen Competition on Access to Medicines -- Live Broadcast this evening

Kudos to the University of Copenhagen (and especially Prof. Laura Nielsen) for organizing the Copenhagen international negotiation competition. Last year the competition simulated a climate change treaty in parallel with the COP15 talks. This year, the teams from OECD and non-OECD law schools have been negotiating segments of a

Dan Griswold on Trade Negotiations versus Trade Enforcement

Which is more important: Trade negotiations or trade enforcement? Writing in the Washington Times, Dan Griswold argues: The Obama administration has vowed to ramp up enforcement of existing trade agreements in an effort to open markets further to U.S. exports. The pledge is popular with members of Congress who

Unilateral Free Trade in Cabbage

Every now and then, a unique set of circumstances arises that leads a government to embrace free trade unilaterally, if only for a particular product. The Economist reports on the impact of a dramatic rise in cabbage prices: Normally, Koreans serve home-grown kimchi as a matter of honour. But

The Export Contingency Standard

I've got a hypothetical related to the export contingency standard, and I'm curious to hear what people think of it. Let's say you have a subsidy measure under which the subsidy is available to producers on the following basis. You get the subsidy if

Mitchell and Voon on WTO Law and Tobacco Regulation

Two papers to mention here. First up, Andrew Mitchell and Tania Voon have posted "Regulating Tobacco Flavours: Implications of WTO Law" on SSRN. Here's the abstract: Within the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’), regulatory measures of Canada and the United States restricting ‘flavouring’ of tobacco products including

Busch and Levy on a WTO Complaint Against China's Currency Policies

Writing in The American, Marc Busch and Phil Levy are are skeptical of a WTO complaint against China's currency policies: ... the legal merits of the case are dubious. China’s exchange rate regime could be attacked as a subsidy scheme or as a way of frustrating market opening