Related to the issues we have been discussing on this Blog: what are the most important gaps in the rules with respect to trade in these sectors?   This question already assumes that there are gaps in the rules, which is probably a defensible assumption. Many issues come to mind here,

The WTO Secretariat is currently preparing the World Trade Report 2010. This year's topic is trade in natural resources, covering fuels, mining, fish, and forestry. Further information about the WTR is provided at: http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/publications_e/wtr10_ruta_e.htm.    The WTO

The answer is simple: bring in a new set of bean-counters (sometimes from a different country). This is essentially what the MOFCOM of China and DOC of US did in their new “Report on the Statistical Discrepancy of Merchandise Trade Between the United States and China ”, which was issued on

by Ian Fletcher Dan has again dragged irrelevant issues into this debate; I shall let the reader judge whether I am guilty of Maoism! Dan’s conflation of protectionism with communism and related economic pathologies is telling: free traders of Dan's variety (ideologically-committed libertarians) habitually roll up all

by Daniel Griswold As we wrap up our debate, let me grant Ian’s point that free trade alone is not a magic bullet that by itself delivers prosperity. Economic success also depends on secure property rights, the rule of law, stable money, functioning domestic markets, and moderate levels of

Remember a few weeks ago when Senator Arlen Specter asked Obama the following: The first part of my question is, would you support more effective remedies to allow injured parties -- unions which lose jobs, companies which lose profits -- by endorsing a judicial remedy, if not in U.S.

Ian Fletcher Some of Dan’s arguments continue to be  mere distractions.  Taking  North Korea and Burma as proof of the harm of a no-trade (or close to it) policy falls down on the fact that North Korea has a communist economy and Burma a quasi-socialist state-controlled one, economic defects

by Daniel Griswold Free Trade has endured since Adam Smith as a robust theory, and it has proven itself in practice across the decades as being superior to government restrictions. There is nothing new in Ian’s theoretical critique of free trade. In a 1996 book, Against the Tide: An

Speaking of investor-state disputes, as I was yesterday, it looks like many of the big names in the field will be assembling for a conference soon: On March 29, 2010, Washington and Lee School of Law will host a Joint Symposium with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

Multiple branches of government can be a real pain sometimes. In the ongoing WTO EC - IT Products dispute (DS375, and also DS376 and DS377 brought by Japan and Chinese Taipei), the U.S. (that is, USTR) argued that the EC's reclassification of certain monitors in a way