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

We've had a few discussions on this blog about the possibility of the EU imposing trade restrictions on countries that are not doing enough to clean up the environment (see here, here and here).  According to the FT, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has rejected the idea: The

According to Bloomberg, considering that the situation has likely worsened recently ''because the yuan has dropped 10 percent on a trade-weighted basis after inflation in the past five years",  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke urged recently China to allow  the quasi- fixed exchange rate of

Jalal Alavi, a frequent commenter on this blog, suggested posting the following: A Survey on Public Opinion The newly released survey of German Marshall Fund of the United States “Perspectives on Trade and Poverty Reduction”   was presented in the WTO today(13.12.2006). GMF has surveyed seven countries (France,

Bloomberg reports: Pakistan plans to challenge European Union trade policy for poor nations through the World Trade Organization, concerned that among India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, it's the only one not given equal advantages. In April 2004, WTO judges said the EU could exempt Latin American nations and