International Economic Law and Policy Blog (Page 479)

International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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The Gambling Arbitration: US$21 Million Per Year

From the Award: 6.1 For the reasons set out above, the Arbitrator determines that the annual level of nullification or impairment of benefits accuing to Antigua in this case is US$21 million and that Antigua has followed the principles and procedures of Article 22.3 of the DSU

The Light Bulb Ban

I was a bit surprised by the ban on incandescent light bulbs in the U.S. energy bill (probably because I hadn't been following the legislation very closely). Usually regulation of this sort consists of higher standards, or maybe occasionally additional taxes, but here we have an outright

The US-EU Gambling Settlement Is Not So Settled

So the EU is now out of the picture in the gambling dispute because they settled on compensation ... Wait, hold on a minute: European online gaming firms are filing a formal complaint against the United States for discrimination after their controversial exit from the US market. The companies say that

Why Does the WTO Have So Much Power?

Dani Rodrik asks: Whether you like it or not, the WTO is the only international organization in existence that actually makes the U.S. do what it would not otherwise have done on its own. No other organization has such power. I would love it if somebody would come up

The Zeroing Battle in the Courts

In a decision circulated today, a WTO panel says it disagrees with the Appellate Body's views on zeroing under AD Agreement Article 9.3, and decides not to follow the Appellate Body's approach. Here's an excerpt: 7.115 We respectfully disagree with the Appellate

Obama's Import Ban

In response to the recent safety scares related to toys imported from China, Barack Obama says: "I would stop the import of all toys from China." Does he really mean that? First off, this sounds like campaign rhetoric more than a policy proposal. In addition to that, it

The Gambling Ban Hits Microsoft

No doubt Microsoft is concerned about the prospect of Antigua getting authorization to sell pirated copies of its products, but we're not quite there yet. However, it is already feeling some pain from the U.S. online gambling ban: Internet giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo agreed to pay

What the Horse-Racing Folks Think of the Recent Gambling Settlement

Not surprisingly, given that the status quo is very good for them, they are quite happy with it: “The U.S. withdrawal of its WTO commitments in gambling services was the only approach that could meet U.S. treaty obligations, remove the gambling issue from the WTO agenda and restore

Fuel Efficiency Standards and Trade Rules

New U.S. fuel efficiency standards were signed into law today. Will we see a repeat of the early 1990s U.S. - Autos case? A National Foreign Trade Council report thinks it is possible, but probably unlikely: Unlike other bills, which continue the 1994 CAFE standards' distinction between

The Economist on Carbon Border Measures

In reaction to the proposal for carbon border measures noted here the other day, the Economist's Free Exchange blog expresses skepticism: There are good reasons to react cautiously toward this idea, however. In the first place, developed nation carbon pricing is likely to be helpful to the fight