International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Jesse Kreier

Developing country status in the WTO

Buried deep in the EU - Palm Oil report (paras. 7.911-7.915, on page 250!) is a nugget on developing country status in the WTO. Malaysia asserts, in the TBT context, that it is a developing Member. It cites as support that: (a) according to the World Economic Situation

AD & CVD provisions in the EU-NZ FTA

Negotiations concluded this week on yet another free trade agreement, this time between the European Union and New Zealand. Chapter 5 of the EU-NZ FTA is about trade remedies. Section A of that chapter deals with antidumping and countervailing duties. As a trade remedies nerd, I always like to take

The Solar Safeguards Panel Report - Some First Reactions

The newly-released Panel Report in US – Solar Safeguard (WT/DS562/R) is of course notable in that, for the first time, a global safeguard measure challenged in WTO dispute settlement has fully survived panel review. A longstanding practice of imposing standards so high that they could never be satisfied has

Trade, Executive Agreements and US Law: Invitation to Trouble?

It may not be a new idea, but recent developments remind me how the status of US trade agreements as executive agreements, and the consequent (lack of a) role for them in US domestic law, has hindered the United States’ ability to comply with its international obligations, and generated unnecessary

RCEP dispute settlement - Some observations

As a former WTO lawyer, I am always interested in comparing WTO procedures to those of other trade agreements. I have recently found myself dabbling in RCEP’s dispute settlement provisions. While this is yesterday’s news, perhaps some readers who have not studied the RCEP might be interested in

In Dubio Mitius - 15 years later

Nothing gets a public international lawyer more stirred up than a maxim of interpretation, and few maxims hit a nerve more readily than "in dubio mitius". Thanks to Petros Mavroidis' recent (and highly recommended) post on transnational subsidies, I found myself squandering a Saturday - when I

Developing country status and trade remedies

As recently discussed by Inu Manak in this blog, the US and the EU have both proposed using objective criteria to clarify the term "developing Member" in the WTO. Of course, these are simply proposals. Developing Members will certainly resist strongly, and insist on the principle of self-selection,

FTA safeguard exclusion clauses . Do they bite?

In a recent post discussing the NAFTA/USMCA provision relating to conditional exclusion of FTA partners from global safeguards under the WTO, I stated that "this type of exclusion is unique to a handful of US FTAs". Count on Amy Porges to catch me in a gross error.

US Solar Safeguard: How much discretion is too much?

Yesterday Canada requested consultations under USMCA regarding the “imposition and ongoing application” to Canada of the US safeguard measure on solar measures. Canada argues that the application of the safeguard to Canada violates the US obligation to exclude USMCA Parties from the scope of the safeguard unless imports from that

Enforcement of subsidy provisions in the EU-UK TCA

The EU-UK TCA is here, and it has extensive provisions on subsidies. It is fair to say, I think, that these are the most detailed rules on subsidies to be found in any FTA negotiated to date, which is not surprising, given that they replace the EU’s state aid