The IMF has announced to overhaul its international surveillance system which has been in operation since 1977. The new surveillance system will impose more rigorous obligations on Members to protect the stability of international financial system. It seems no coincidence that this decision has been made amid the high-profile

Eric Reinhardt, Greg Shaffer and I recently completed a survey of WTO members.  One of the questions we asked each delegation concerned the sources of advantage in dispute settlement for the most powerful members. Fully 88 percent of the respondents answered that the advantage held by the largest members in

See them "debate" at the WTO's new on-line forum, moderated by Keith Rockwell.

For those who want to know what's in the new China currency bill but don't want to read the bill itself, Dan Ikenson of the Cato Institute has some analysis and commentary.  His view of the bill:  "Despite some harsh provisions, it could have been

We are starting a new blog related to this one.  It will be similar in substantive scope, although much different in nature.  The idea is to make it more of a news-reporting blog, with law (and other) students doing the posting.  We have it going now in "beta&

EU agricultural ministers agreed on a mandatory labeling (logo) regime for organic food, which replaces a previous voluntary labeling scheme adopted in 1991. (See Financial Times, Fears EU Logo Sets Organic Standards Too Low, June 13, 2007, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/b0694860-194b-11dc-a961-000b5df10621.html.) This

I just received the following notice--it looks like it will be an excellent resource. CEPR (the Center for Economic Policy Research) has launched a new website, VoxEU.org , that is to be a focal point for research-based discussion and analysis of policy relevant economics by researchers. The plan

The panel report in the Brazil-Tyres case is out.  In this important case involving environmental justification for Brazil's import ban on used tires, the panel found that while Brazil's measure is "necessary" within the meaning of GATT XX(b), it does not satisfy

See Julian Ku's post at Opinio Juris about Putin's suggestion that an alternative to the WTO that focused on poor countries should be considered. Of course, this is not the first time that an alternative to the WTO/GATT has been discussed. For a nice account

Several members of the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced the Border Tax Equity Act: A bipartisan quartet of Congressmen today introduced legislation that would levy a border tax on imported goods unless the U.S. Trade Representative negotiates with other countries to end their border taxes on U.