Chavez is planning on causing Venezuela to nationalize all energy production assets.  See the CNN story.  See Chris Borgen's take at opinio juris.  There'll be a lot to fight about with respect to compensation. As we hav epointed out earlier, Venezuela does not have a BIT

See Peter Spiro's story on Opinio Juris about the big retailers' (Walmart, Tesco, etc.) Global Social Compliance Program.  I had not heard of this one.  It is interesting that the retailers would join together to set standards for their suppliers.  Is it intended to take the wind

Some optimism from a US administration figure that the increasing attractiveness of agro-based fuels will bring progress in Doha. Of course this over-simplifies the issue, and the catches are many. I could've posted this as a trade law "brain-teaser", but see this interesting

On December 29, President Bush took the final step, authorized by legislation signed December 20, to provide MFN treatment to Vietnamese goods.  At the same time, the U.S. Commerce Department is discussing a special textiles monitoring arrangement, applicable only to Vietnam.  This raises a good question about the scope

I was recently asked whether Israel's large excise tax on automobiles, applied at the border, raises WTO law issues.  Israel has no domestic production of automobiles, so the tax de facto only applies to imports.  However, it is by definition non-discriminatory, because there is not domestic production

Wednesday's FT reports that Angela Merkel is seeking greater regulatory harmonization between the US and EU, as Germany begins its presidency of the EU.  This initiative is alternatively referenced as "transatlantic co-operation", a "transatlantic partnership", and a move toward a "transatlantic single

From J alal Alavi:King's College of London University is organizing its first International Graduate Legal Research Conference. Information on the Conference, including its "Call for Papers" is available through http://www.iglrc.com/

Jimmy Buffett doesn't have to worry about the interpretation of GATT Article XX(g) or the chapeau.  He can just take matters into his own hands: Margaritaville Cafés, restaurants owned by Jimmy Buffett, will no longer serve Canadian seafood until Canada ends its annual slaughter of seals, according

Inside U.S. Trade, through its China Trade Extra, is doing some blogging from China (I don't know if this is a permanent feature, or just something temporary they are doing in relation to the Strategic Economic Dialogue), and they recount the following story: Reporters here received an