A recent poll suggested that Republican voters are less enthusiastic about free trade than in the past: By a nearly two-to-one margin, Republican voters believe free trade is bad for the U.S. economy, a shift in opinion that mirrors Democratic views and suggests trade deals could face high hurdles

CALL FOR PAPERS AND PANELS - The Inaugural Conference of the Society of International Economic Law: New Horizons of International Economic Law The Inaugural Conference of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL) will take place at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva from 15-17 July 2008 (www.

I think the Costa Rican vote on CAFTA is pretty close to decided.  Reuters reports that with "ballots from nearly 74 percent of polling stations" counted, "[a]lmost 52 percent of voters backed the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, while 48 percent voted against it.

For those who have not already seen it, here is a posting from the new Society of International Economic Law, with which a number of this blog's contributors (including myself) are involved: SIEL is pleased to announce that Don McRae has agreed to serve as the Interim President

Is the quote in the title to this post a threat to Costa Ricans voting tomorrow on approval of CAFTA?  It does sound a bit like one, with the suggestion that if CAFTA is not approved, unilateral trade preferences to Costa Rica might not be renewed.  Is such a threat

Susan Schwab, the US Trade Representative, called for clear “pledges” from major developed and developing countries to negotiate within the range of current draft texts (on agriculture and industrial goods) to deliver the Doha deal. (“How flexibility can salvage the Doha round,” Financial Times, Oct. 4) Schwab observed that the

This sounds like a big deal to me, but it has been a while since my one EC law course, so perhaps this ruling by the European Court of Justice is not as important as it seems: it is not contrary to Community law for Article 33 of the TRIPs

As Bryan mentioned here, Canada's complaint about Belgian and Dutch bans on seal products is now official.  The consultations request is here. It might be better for the system if the complaint did not go forward, but if it does there could be some very interesting issues explored.

The Public Law Review, one of the student-edited journals at Saint Louis University Law School, is organizing a symposium in Spring 2008 on regional trade agreements and their social, political, and environmental  implications.  The title is:  The Changing Tide of Trade: Social, Political, and Environmental Implications of Regional Trade Agreements.

Reports are that Canada has filed a complaint against the EU over the Dutch and Belgian bans on seal products (which currently or soon will outlaw the manufacture and commercialization of all products containing seal) and perhaps the Italian and Luxembourg regulations which refuse to grant import licenses to seal