A couple of Danish researchers have constructed a methodology for evaluating states' preferences for liberalization, and the degree of difference in their positions.  Their conclusion:  the EU is more at fault for the breakdown of Doha negotiations than the U.S.  I didn't read the paper or

Rob Howse is away and asked me to post this for him: David Unterhalter, new Appellate Body Member David Unterhalter, a South African practitioner and law professor, (at Wits), has just been appointed to the Appellate Body to fill the spot left vacant by the untimely death of AB Member

Apparently, the term blowback was coined in a CIA report on its efforts to overthrow the Mossadegh government in Iran. In that report, and since, the term has come to refer to the unintended consequences of government policy. More recently it has been applied to describe the effect of decisions

We can lay the blame for Doha’s delay at lots of doorsteps. But fundamentally, we would hope that if the deal were rich enough, if it improved welfare enough, people would find a way to agree.             Economists know that dismantling barriers to trade makes the world better off:  this

Today's IHT has an interesting letter from Pascal Lamy to the trade ministers.  He includes the following: The pity in all of this is that what is on the table now constitutes greater progress in rolling back farm subsidies and tariffs than anything seen before in global negotiations.

The GATS today does not contain a direct requirement that domestic regulatory measures be the least trade restrictive (Article VI:5 combines this test with a nullification or impairment requirement).  This may be contrasted with Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement and Article 2.2 of the SPS Agreement.

People have not been shy about assigning blame for the failure of the Doha talks.  The G-6 WTO Members who met in an effort to get things moving were Australia, Brazil, the EU, India, Japan and the U.S.  Most are blaming the U.S., while the U.S. is

It appears that the last gasp of hope for some kind of Doha deal this year has expired.  It is curious that the G-8 expressed commitment last week, and then its ministers declined to deliver the goods in Geneva.

I am happy to post the following announcement from Cambridge University Press: The Limits of Leviathan Contract Theory and the Enforcement of International Law Robert E. Scott Paul B. Stephan Much of international law, like much of contract, is enforced not by independent sanctions but rather through cooperative interaction among

This from Mark Stratman, at the suggestion of John Jackson: The WTO General Council has made a decision to derestrict all GATT 1947 documents.  This is an important step towards greater transparency, and greatly reduces some of the confusion about what documents might still be restricted from the GATT days.