International Economic Law and Policy Blog

Sign in Subscribe

Topic

Subsidies

83 posts

The WTO Boeing Ruling and State Subsidies

A Rhode Island state representative explains that a WTO ruling which finds that state subsidies to Boeing violate WTO obligations would be a good way to rein in state and local subsidies: a forthcoming decision will determine whether billions of dollars in government aid to Boeing is also illegal. We

Alan Sykes on Comparative Subsidies Regulation

With the EC - Aircraft Subsidies interim panel report almost upon us, this seems like a good time to talk about disciplines on subsidies. Alan Sykes' new paper "The Questionable Case for Subsidies Regulation: A Comparative Perspective," available on SSRN, is a good starting point. Here'

Pietro Poretti on the GATS and Services Subsidies

Not everyone reads the comments on this blog, so I thought I'd put this very good comment by Pietro Poretti up as a post: I would like to add a few thoughts to the captivating discussion on GATS and financial services bailouts and, more generally, on services subsidies.

Subsidies Rules and Financial Services Bailouts

Todd Tucker has an interesting post over at Eyes on Trade, in which he makes the following points: 1. Certain trade experts have been saying that WTO rules do not apply to subsidies to the financial services industry (or, at least, do not provide much discipline). Thus, in their view,

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.

Subsidy Wars

Moving away from cars, over to agriculture: Twenty-nine countries at the World Trade Organization criticized the United States on Wednesday for reintroducing export subsidies on U.S. dairy products, calling the handouts a dangerous retreat into protectionism and warning of "subsidy wars." ... The U.S. view was that

Taxing U.S. Multinationals Abroad and at Home

From today's headlines: President Barack Obama vowed on Monday to overhaul tax policies that he said reward companies for shifting U.S. jobs overseas and allow wealthy people to evade taxes using offshore accounts. The White House estimated the plan would save $210 billion over the next decade.

Bailouts and International Investment Law

From Anne van Aaken and Jürgen Kurtz, a brief paper entitled "THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS: WILL STATE EMERGENCY MEASURES TRIGGER INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT DISPUTES?" From the conclusion: We draw two tentative conclusions, implicated in our analysis of potential liability under international investment treaties. First, there is clear evidence of

Buy America under WTO Rules

With regard to Brazil's possible WTO complaint against the Buy America stimulus provisions, I had been caught up with trying to figure out how Brazil would deal with the GATT Article III:8(a) exemption. However, a commenter pointed out SCM Agreement Article 3.1(b), which I

Do We Need Subsidies Rules for Services?

The UK gives up on a WTO subsidies complaint because there are no rules for subsidies to services: "Last year the Government said that the UK via the European Union would take legal action against Canada if its support for its videogames industry violated WTO rules," said Richard