Today's FT reports that the U.S.-Korea FTA may be held up because of unsatisfactory investment protection provisions: Against a backdrop of rising economic nationalism, the state audit board has called for the purchase [of Korea Exchange Bank by Lone Star, a U.S. company] to be

The Seventh Annual BIICL WTO Conference is coming up on 22-23 May 2007, in London.  It's a great group of participants as always.  The topics are: 1. The GMOs Dispute 2. Compliance and Remedies: Articles 21.5 and 22 DSU 3. Dispute Settlement under FTAs and the WTO:

Robert Lawrence of the Kennedy School has a report out with CFR entitled "The United States and the WTO Dispute Settlement System."  From the press release, here are some of his main recommendations.  For the system: Lawrence proposes a series of realistic fixes to bring about a more

A column in the New York Times – about how US judges find academic writings irrelevant – reminded me of a question I have had for some time:  Why is it that WTO panels and the Appellate Body almost never, ever, refer to scholarly writings (and if they do, it is to

There is an interesting article by Alan Beattie in yesterday's FT.  Beattie first observes that dispute settlement is heating up in response to the continued failure to conclude Doha.  He then refers to Robert Lighthizers' complaints about the AB, which we have discussed before.  Then Beattie makes

For a wonderful tour d'horizon of the history of international economic law, albeit through the lens of the AJIL, see Detlev Vagts article at 100 AJIL 769 (October 2006).  Here is the conclusion: Looking back on the relationship between international economic law and the Journal, one wonders why

A few months ago, I did a post praising a paper by the WTO's Mireille Cossy, which was on "likeness" and non-discrimination under the GATS.  I stand by my statement that she "addressed some of the hard issues involved in an intelligent way."  However,

In yesterday's FT, Gary Hufbauer and Theodore Moran argue against the inclusion of requirements for core labor standards in fast track legislation: US congressional Democrats, led by Sandy Levin and Barney Frank, are insisting that core labour standards promoted by the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation be included