International Economic Law and Policy Blog (Page 466)

International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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trade/environment/federalism

I've been away from the blog for some time, so I hope I haven't missed somebody else writing about this. It was interesting to note the US Environmental Protection Agency's decision not to allow the California waiver from the Clean Air Act, allowing CA

Some Questions about Labor/Environment Provisions in Trade Agreements

This Presidential campaign has made it very clear that there are a number of people (mostly Democrats, I would guess), including the two remaining Democratic Presidential candidates, whose support for trade agreements is conditional on having enforceable labor and environmental rules as part of these agreements. This view raises a

Missouri’s Tax Break for American-Made Hybrid Cars

It is true that the United States has come late to environmentalism (and still has a ways to go). Nonetheless, even in the “heartland” we are starting to see the beginning of a Green Revolution. But, with these positive moves there is always the danger of populist protectionism rearing its

The WTO and Everything: Sovereign Wealth Funds and Exchange Rates

Aaditya Mattoo and Arvind Subramanian have a new paper proposing WTO involvement in these issues (greater involvement in the case of exchange rates). Here is the synopsis: Two aspects of global imbalances—undervalued exchange rates and sovereign wealth funds (SWFs)—require a multilateral response. For reasons of inadequate leverage and

Classification of Developing Countries at the WTO

A reader of this blog is doing research on the classification of developing countries at the WTO, and asked me to pose the following question: Does anyone have any suggestions for resources that discuss the classification of WTO Members as developed, developing, or least-developed? Any thoughts on this can be

Investor-State Arbitration and the U.S. Presidential Campaign

From Alan Beattie in the FT: Amid the noisy battering the North American Free Trade Agreement is taking from both Democratic presidential hopefuls, one recent statement from Hillary Clinton was particularly resonant. “We will have a very clear view of how we’re going to review Nafta ,” the New York

The Next Gambling Dispute?

As was widely reported yesterday, the EU is launching an internal investigation on U.S. online gambling laws, to decide whether to bring a WTO complaint: The European Union threatened to lodge a complaint at the World Trade Organization over U.S. laws that bar gambling Web sites, saying they

Obama/Clinton and Boeing vs. McCain and Airbus

As if the Boeing vs. Airbus controversy on the Air Force tanker deal wasn't political enough already, with Obama and Clinton criticizing the decision to award the contract to a group that includes Airbus, now there's this: Angry Boeing supporters are vowing revenge against Republican presidential

A Compulsory Licensing Complaint?

Whenever I hear about compulsory licensing done pursuant to the TRIPS Agreement and related instruments, I wonder whether IP companies will lobby for a formal complaint against the practice. It is permitted in principle, of course, but there is always the possibility that the applicable rules have not been followed.

A New Kind of Outsourcing

From The Onion (via Greg Mankiw), a new form of outsourcing: (Let me just repeat, for those who didn't catch it, this is from The Onion).