International Economic Law and Policy Blog

Sign in Subscribe

Topic

Non-Discrimination Standards

57 posts

Grand River Enterprises: Discussion of National Treatment at the Hearing

Following up on some previous posts about the NAFTA Chapter 11 Grand River Enterprises dispute, the hearing in the case, held in early February, offered some interesting discussion of the National Treatment issue. Let me first turn to Luke Peterson of the Investment Arbitration Reporter for some background: The individual

Merrill & Ring v. Canada: More About NAFTA Ch. 11 Non-Discrimination Standards

Continuing with my occasional (although becoming somewhat frequent) posts on NAFTA Chapter 11 non-discrimination standards, there is a new decision to talk about: Merrill & Ring v. Canada. The basic facts, from the Tribunal: 26. This case concerns a claim by the Investor in respect of the implementation of Canada‘

GATT Article I:1 (MFN) and "Conditions" for Lower Tariffs

From a recent article in The Australian: China yesterday raised the prospect of tariffs and new policies to stem growing uncertainty in its steel industry, which faces iron ore price hikes of up to 90 per cent this year. China's Commerce Ministry said yesterday it was preparing a

Discrimination Arguments in the AbitibiBowater NAFTA Chapter 11 Claim

Taking a quick break from the big picture questions in the Great Trade Debate, I'm going to bring up a very narrow and technical trade issue: How to apply a non-discrimination standard in the NAFTA Chapter 11 context. As was widely reported last week, AbitibiBowater is going ahead

More on the Wisconsin Diploma Privilege

Following-up on this post, we may eventually get a decision related to whether Wisconsin's "diploma privilege" violates the dormant commerce clause. From the National Law Journal: A federal appeals court has rekindled a challenge to a Wisconsin rule that allows graduates of the state's

Cash for Clunkers and MFN

Over at Opinio Juris, Roger Alford notes that the "Cash for Clunkers" program has seemed to favor non-U.S. car-makers such as Toyota and Honda over the U.S. car-makers (with the caveat that some Toyota and Honda cars are made, in part at least, in the U.

U.S. Beverages Taxes

Taxes on beverages have a long and interesting history in GATT/WTO dispute settlement. I hope Congress keeps this in mind as they consider taxing soda and alcoholic beverages to help pay for health care reform. See here, here and here for details. The last article notes that the soda

NAFTA Non-Discrimination: The Corn Products Decision

Turning back to non-discrimination under NAFTA Chapter 11, which has become a recent obsession of mine, in addition to Grand River Enterprises, there is another NAFTA Chapter 11 case dealing with non-discrimination standards that is worth talking about: The Corn Products case (discussed on this blog by Luke Peterson just

A Trade in Services Dormant Commerce Clause Case

Someone is challenging Wisconsin's diploma privilege as a violation of the dormant commerce clause: Wisconsin’s diploma privilege for graduates of the law schools at Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin may be in danger, at least if the Seventh Circuit reviews the merits of the privilege.

The Latest from the Grand River Case

I've been blogging a bit about NAFTA Chapter 11 non-discrimination standards (see here and here) by following the parties' submissions in the Grand River Enterprises case. The claimants' reply memorial is now available here. There's not too much for me to discuss in this