I was puzzled recently by an affirmation in a newspaper that a complainant country has some 90 percent chances of winning its case at the WTO. Since no domestic legal system has such a tendency, I tried to see if this figure could be confirmed. Unfortunately, in their interesting new

Doug Irwin has a nice encomium to GATT in today's WSJ.  Here are the last few paragraphs: Over its 60-year history, the GATT has had many shortcomings. Agricultural trade has largely eluded liberalization. The current spread of preferential trade arrangements, in the form of bilateral and regional so-called

The US has indicated that two cases on TRIPS and distribution rights will be brought against China. Here are my two cents on the two cases: 1st case: According to TRIPS Article 61, Members must provide remedies for IPR violation, which shall include imprisonment and/or monetary fines sufficient to

In June 2003, WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi organized a Consultative Board of eight eminent persons to study institutional challenges facing the WTO and to consider how best to meet those challenges. The resulting report generated a flurry of academic commentary (see here and here); whether it will have a substantial

There have been a lot of news reports regarding the decision by the Department of Commerce to change gears and apply countervailing duties to non-market economies like China (on certain paper imports right now, but possibly many new products in the future).  There are a number of specific legal issues

This article in the current issue of The World Economy looks interesting: How Do Differing Standards Increase Trade Costs? The Case of Pallets * Gaël Raballand 11The World Bank and * Enrique Aldaz-Carroll 11The World Bank * 1The World Bank Abstract The pallet is a platform used for storing, handling and transporting products.

Korea and the U.S. have agreed to an FTA.  Ben Muse has a useful post here detailing the history of the negotiations.  USTR's press release about the agreement is here. Based on news reports, key issues in the negotiations were resolved as follows.  From the AP: South

Joan Robinson, criticizing false rigor, was fond of saying that "an elephant is hard to define but easy to recognize! " I wonder if this metaphor applies to the issue of "unfairness" in international trade. I say that because I have noticed that many recent posts on

Greg Mankiw is famous (infamous?) for his statements about offshoring back in 2004, when he was Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors.  At the time, he said: the "offshoring" of U.S. service jobs is only "the latest manifestation of the gains from trade