International Economic Law and Policy Blog (Page 399)

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The WTO's "Political Problem"

Alan Beattie of the FT assesses the Doha impasse this way:It’s not the global mechanisms that are wonky. It’s the weakness of the national governments pulling the levers. This would be as true of a plurilateral trade deal as of a multilateral, of course. There is no

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement

The recent announcement by President Obama raised hopes again that the United States will start negotiations to accede to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). While such announcement is actually over-due, it is still not a bad news. However. the more important question is: is the TPP itself such a

Live Blog: Exit Strategy Talk -- Doha Light or "Functional UNCTAD"?

There are diverging views on what the goal of this Ministerial actually is. One possibility, that seems to be the likely one, is that the objective is not to chart a future course for the Doha caravan, but rather to figure out how to get off. Even the much repeated

Risk, Science and Law in International Governance

Chicago-Kent College of Law, in cooperation with the American Society of International Law's International Economic Law Interest Group and Kim & Chang, presents: Risk, Science and Law in International Governance Date: December 5, 2009 (Saturday) Venue: Chicago-Kent College of Law Illinois Institute of Technology 565 West

Live Blog: Trade and Agricultural Land

I guess I'll never get used to the way the Europeans depict their revision of the Common Agricultural Policy, driven by the Union's enlargement process, as a concession in the Doha round. The French Ministers of trade and agriculture repeated it several times at a press

Brazil vs. The U.S. On Doha

USTR Ron Kirk: But to close the remaining gaps in agriculture, NAMA, and services particularly with regard to the market access commitments by the most advanced developing countries this multilateral work needs to be supplemented by sustained direct bilateral engagement, as called for by G-20 leaders. There is no

Creative Solutions to the Chinese Currency Issue

Dan Drezner half-jokingly proposes the following: It would be interesting for the U.S. Trade Representative and the EU Trade Directorate to make the following proposal: Hey, Wen, you're right about the unfair tire tariffs and the like. Let's make a trade deal: you allow

Live Blog: Divided by a Common Language - Kirk and Ashton Statements

The marathon of Minister's statements in the Ministerial Plenary is on (you can watch them live on the WTO website, recommencing Tuesday morning). The statements are of course very short - three minutes each. Although some statements sound like shopping lists, and others like anthologies of WTO cliches, the

Live Blog: Reform, Regulation and the Stationary Bicycle Theory

On questions of reforming the WTO and its role in regulation, DG Lamy was very much in the minority opinion at this morning's ICTSD Panel on "Strengthening the Multilateral Trading System". In 2003, you will recall, Lamy (as EU Trade Commissioner) said that the WTO is

Live, from Geneva

A few weeks ago, I conspired with Simon to apply for media accreditation to the WTO's 7th Ministerial Conference taking place in Geneva this week. We thought we would have a blog story in any case: if we were rejected, we could address the WTO's transparency;