My friend Radley Balko has a post over at Reason’s Hit & Run blog about a recent attempt to discover the terms of a trade deal reached in December between the United States and the European Union. The negotiations started because of America’s wish to withdraw its prior commitment to open its market to overseas gambling service providers. (WTO members are within their rights to do that, but they must offer compensatory market openings in other areas). Recall that the details of that deal were, to put it charitably, vague at the time it was announced.

In an effort to shed some light on the agreement, a fellow named Ed Brayton submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Office of the United States Trade Representative asking for the details. No joy – the USTR refused his request on the grounds that the “information…is properly classified in the interest of national security pursuant to Executive Order 12958.”

Presumably the USTR would need to publicly disclose the terms of the deal when (if?) it is ratified by the WTO, but in the meantime Mr Brayton is appealing. Also in the meantime, Antigua and Costa Rica have filed (separate) arbitration requests to the WTO over their compensation package (more here, and a warning – some of the ads on this site are possibly not safe for work).

I will be speaking at a panel event at the Institute for Economic Affairs in London on Tuesday on this very subject.