"US brokerage Charles Schwab, mostly a discounter and mostly on the Internet is beefing up its ability to trade directly on about 40 foreign markets. They will charge $50 over their regular commission which in my case will be zero for a while (luring them in)."

David Fuller's view I have always been under the impression that US brokerage facilities with offices overseas would handle overseas buy and sell orders for American citizens based in the USA. However, they may be selective in accepting accounts, not wanting a one-off or occasional transaction. And they certainly will not charge discount commission rates for business that will be more expensive to execute.