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Latest — 03 Feb 2026

Peter Harrell on "Upending World Trade"

Peter Harrell, formerly of the Biden administration and now at Georgetown Law, has a new Foreign Affairs piece called "The Case for Upending World Trade: How Trump’s Vision Echoes America’s Traditional Approach." In the piece, Peter makes several points that I want to respond to.

Jamieson Greer on the 30 Year Aberration in U.S. Trade Policy

When he was in Davos last week for the World Economic Forum, U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer talked a bit about U.S. trade policy history and described a recent period during which, in his view, U.S. trade policy shifted away from tariffs/protectionism and towards free trade.

Why Haven't the Tariffs Had More Impact on the Economy?

Dan Drezner recently noted the following in relation to why the Trump tariffs haven't had a more negative impact on the U.S. economy: What about the overall effect of Trump’s tariffs on the U.S. economy? As to that question, a separate Ana Swanson story provides

Is this the end of MFN as we know it? The EU submission on WTO reform and the meaning of development

With the release of the EU submission on WTO reform, it has become clear that the MFN principle’s central role within the WTO architecture is under challenge. As a keystone, it risks the entire bridge falling. Even if the foundations are retained but deemed outdated or unusable, and a

The EU on Policy Space

In the EU submission on WTO Reform that I mentioned yesterday, there was this suggestion on "policy space": In the context of overall strengthening of rules, there should be openness to examine targeted adjustments for policy space. A balance needs to be found between the effectiveness of the

Asking China To Liberalize More at the WTO

Back in 2018, I wrote a piece with my colleague Huan Zhu arguing that China had become much wealthier since it joined the WTO, and therefore should take on greater liberalization commitments: With greater wealth comes greater responsibility. Even if it continues to maintain its “developing” status, as China’s

Guest Post: President Trump Cannot Legally Impose Tariffs Using Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974

If the Supreme Court strikes down nonreciprocal tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the Trump Administration reportedly plans to re-impose some of the tariffs by citing authorities in other laws.

Can "Geopolitical" Tariffs Be Dealt With through Trade Deals?

Last Friday, U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer was asked about Trump's initial suggestion of tariffs related to the goal of taking over Greenland

Call for Submissions: Trade, Law and Development

This is from the editors of the Trade, Law and Development journal: The Board of Editors of TL&D is pleased to invite original, unpublished manuscripts for publication in the General Issue of the Journal (Vol. XVII, No. 2) in the form of ‘Articles’, ‘Notes’, ‘Comments’ and ‘Book Reviews’

Katherine Tai on WTO Dispute Settlement Reform

Back in November, former U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai spoke on a panel at Harvard (I just stumbled on the video recently). Towards the end, she responded as follows to a question about the Appellate Body appointments crisis (1:08:32 of the video): On the Appellate Body, ... if