International Economic Law and Policy Blog (Page 428)

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It's World Trade Week

Apparently, May 17-23 is "World Trade Week." See the White House press release here, which concludes: NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do

“Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act”: How Does it Settle the Debate about the Subsidy Nature of An Undervalued Currency?

Even when legal analysts agree that the undervalued Yuan is equivalent to a subsidy under WTO rules, they disagree however about how to find in this instance, “financial contribution”, “benefit” and “specificity”. I was curious to see how the recent draft of the “Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act” arbitrates

The Seals Dispute: The Economist Offers Some Arguments

In this week's issue, the Economist weighs in on the EU's decision to ban most seal products. They make the point that if the EU wanted to promote animal welfare, they had other avenues, closer to home, to do so: ROUGHLY handled, and incompetently stunned, terrified

Important Speeches by Tim Groser

Ambassador Tim Groser, New Zealand’s dynamic minister of trade, gave two important speeches this week. The speeches are posted at http://www.beehive.govt.nz/minister/tim+groser. The first speech is titled “Adapting the International Trade Regime to New Challenges: Climate Change.” The speech was delivered on May

Would the US-Korea FTA be good for the WTO system? Can the USA be both for multilateralism and for FTAs?

Those following the proposed Discriminatory Trade Agreement (‘DTA’ – some of you call them FTAs) between the USA and South Korea may be interested in my submission to the Australian government regarding the proposed negotiation of a DTA between Australia and South Korea. You can find it here http://www.dfat.

The Latest on Currency Disputes

I'm going to go out on (somewhat of) a limb, and predict that this legislation, or something like it, will pass and result in a major trade dispute in the near future: US lawmakers on Wednesday unveiled a plan to retaliate against countries, like China, that allegedly manipulate

Is the Intel Verdict Protectionist?

Some people say yes: American technology advocates and legal experts have roundly condemned the EU's decision to fine Intel nearly a billion pounds for breaking anti-trust laws. Grant Aldonas, Senior Advisor at the bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), says, "This is a potentially

"U.S. trade chief wows partners, substance awaited"

That's how Reuters describes USTR Ron Kirk's Geneva trip. More here.

Interpreting International Law

On SSRN, Professor Michael Paulsen has posted "The Constitutional Power to Interpret International Law." An extract from the paper: What, then, of international bodies’ interpretations of international law, including international treaties to which the United States is party—such as the U.N. Charter, the Geneva Conventions, and

Is the Beef Hormones Dispute Settled?

My reading of the terms of the "provisional" agreement signed last week between the U.S. and EU on the WTO beef hormones dispute was that some small steps had been taken, but there was still a lot of work to be done. In particular, the key issue