In Part I of this post we introduce the subject and provide a first example of problematic AB findings. In Part II we discuss two additional examples. In this Part III we explain how the AB adopted an approach to creating case law that is “super hardline” as compared to how case law is created…
In Part I of this post we introduce the subject and provide a first example of problematic AB findings. In this Part II we discuss two additional examples. In Part III we explain how the AB adopted an approach to creating case law that is “super hardline” as compared to how case law is created…
The WTO dispute settlement system runs a serious risk of regressing by year end into the conditions that prevailed in the GATT era. The difference between the GATT and the WTO formulations of dispute settlement is gigantic. Under the GATT, compliance by the defendant with dispute settlement findings was, in practice, voluntary; under the WTO,…
This is the third of three posts where I comment on Mexico’s “new” agricultural policy. For Part I click here, for Part II click here. In this post I discuss at length what might be the market effects of price support through the guaranteed prices program. A key factor as to whether guaranteed prices can substantially…
This is the second of three posts where I comment on Mexico’s “new” agricultural policy. For Part I click here. In the first post I have presented evidence that, in constant prices, the 2019 budget allocations to the “mainline” subsidy programs in agriculture are at historically low levels. [1] In particular, acreage-based payments (irrespective of production levels)…
This is the first of three posts where I comment on Mexico’s “new” agricultural policy. In particular, in the first post I discuss how Mexico’s “mainline” subsidy programs have fared, in terms of funding, in the first year Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known as AMLO, for his initials in Spanish) has been in power. In…
This the seventh post in a series of posts commenting on the NAFTA renegotiation process. For Part I click here, for Part II click here, for Part III click here, for Part IV click here, for Part V click here, for Part VI click here. The United States and Canada are continuing their meetings this week to try…
This the sixth post in a series of posts commenting on the NAFTA renegotiation process. For Part I click here, for Part II click here, for Part III click here, for Part IV click here, for Part V click here. The terms of the bilateral agreement reached by the United States and Mexico on August 27, 2018, as…
This the fifth post in a series of posts commenting on the NAFTA renegotiation process. For Part I click here, for Part II click here, for Part III click here, for Part IV click here. On August 27, the United States and Mexico announced having reached a preliminary agreement regarding the terms under which they would conclude…
This the fourth post in a series of posts commenting on the NAFTA renegotiation process. For Part I click here, for Part II click here, for Part III click here. Reportedly, another thorny proposal being discussed in the renegotiation process is revamping or else doing away with the investor-State dispute settlement mechanism provided under Section B…
This the third post in a series of posts commenting on the NAFTA renegotiation process. For Part I click here, for Part II click here. The rule of origin for conferring duty-free treatment to imports of motor vehicles within the NAFTA region has become one of the most contentious issues in the renegotiation process. Currently,…
This a second post in a series of posts commenting on the NAFTA renegotiation process. For Part I click here. What is Mexico’s Real “Plan B”? The Mexican press is full of statements to the effect that, should the United States withdraw from the NAFTA, Mexico would compensate any substantial reduction in exports to…
The renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”) has become an increasingly difficult process. This is unsurprising, however, because there is no agreement amongst the member countries as to why the NAFTA needs be renegotiated. Mexico and Canada regard the renegotiation process as an opportunity to modernize NAFTA. Although the United States does…
