International Economic Law and Policy Blog (Page 392)

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Google and China: Protectionism or Censorship?

In Foreign Policy, journalist Jordan Calinoff asks, "Is web censorship just an excuse to drive out foreign competition and give a boost to Chinese brands?" He then writes: ... Google, like Yahoo before it, has been systematically forced out of the market by a Chinese government determined to purge

Pascal Lamy on Trade and Human Rights

WTO DG Pascal Lamy makes some interesting points (as he often does) in his recent speech on trade and human rights. Here are the ones that jumped out at me (quoted portion indented), with some quick comments. 1. Good governance and transparency are essential for trade. What role do human

Proposed Amendments to the AB Working Procedures

The Appellate Body is proposing some amendments to its Working Procedures (Word Doc): We propose the following three amendments to the Working Procedures: · First, we suggest that an appellant's written submission be filed when an appeal is commenced, namely, on the same day as the filing of a

Anti-Dumping Laws as a Reason for Foreign Investment

From the FT: Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecoms equipment company, is to make a $500m investment in its research and development operations in the southern Indian city of Bangalore as part of an effort to avoid falling foul of tension between New Delhi and Beijing. Max Yang, Huawei's

Google, China and the WTO

Google's possible exit from China is all over the news. Are there any trade issues in there? Possibly: Lawyers said that Google and the US might have a legal basis for suing China at the World Trade Organisation, a move that would further complicate relations between Washington and

The WTO Seal Products Dispute: A Preview of the Legal Issues

Here is an ASIL Insight I did on the Seal Products dispute, previewing the legal issues. (Keep in mind that I only had 2,000 words, so it's a fairly brief preview!) An excerpt: One might expect that core WTO principles, such as non-discrimination and necessity, would

Clove Cigarette Update

I'm not sure I'm reading this correctly, but there may be a peaceful resolution to the clove cigarette ban controversy (see here and here for background): Kretek International Inc., importer and marketer of Djarum clove cigars, withdrew its lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug

Attracting Investment: Subsidies versus Weak Labor Laws

There's some disagreement as to whether weak labor laws are used by certain countries to attract foreign investment (or at least, they have that effect, even if it is not their goal). Some critics of trade agreements say that weak labor laws in some countries leads to unfair

The "Human Right" of Free Trade

From Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe: Free trade isn’t a battle that countries (or states) win or lose. It is a human right - the liberty to engage in voluntary transactions that leave both participants better off. If John wants to sell something that Mary wants to buy, it

Non-Violation Complaints and the Enforcement of Domestic Labor Laws

In the comments, Susan Aaronson says: The WTO does not cover labor standards explicitly, but policymakers who are concerned about the trade spillovers of China’s labor laws have leverage on China. China recently reformed its labor laws, and it did so in a transparent accountable manner at the national