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Simon Lester

Simon Lester

Co-founder of WorldTradeLaw.net and China Trade Monitor. Non-resident fellow at the Baker Institute.

http://simonlester.com

The Costs and Benefits of Trade Agreements/Liberalization

This is from Krzysztof Pelc's review of Dani Rodrik's new book: In the case of trade, one such wrinkle, long overlooked, comes from economic models’ focus on the “average citizen.” And while trade agreements may indeed be beneficial to the “average Canadian,” no such animal exists

Brief Thoughts on Trump's Trade Remarks from Today

Is it worth responding to things President Trump says about trade? I'm not sure, but I'm doing it anyway, very briefly. The transcript of his remarks from today is here. Feel free to add your own comments. Trump: THE PRESIDENT: As you are all aware, China

China's WTO Complaint against the Section 232 Tariffs

This is the legal basis of China's WTO complaint against the U.S. Section 232 tariffs, filed on April 5: The measures at issue, operating separately or together, appear to be inconsistent with the United States' obligations under: * Articles XIX:1(a), XIX:2 of the GATT

ASIL Annual Meeting Videos

This is from Kathleen Claussen: Select videos from the 112th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) held last week in Washington, DC are now available on the ASIL website (https://www.asil.org/resources/video/2018-annual-meeting). These include video from a session on the

China's WTO Complaint on the Section 301 Tariffs

China's consultations request on the U.S. Section 301 tariffs is here. This is the key part: On 22 March 2018, the United States published related documents of the Section 301 investigations against China. On 3 April, the United State published a list of products of Chinese origin,

The U.S. Response to China's Retaliation: What Role for the DSU?

Here is the U.S. response to China's decision to deem the Section 232 tariffs a safeguard measure and to impose tariffs pursuant to provisions of the Safeguards Agreement: The United States has received China's requests for consultations under Article 12.3 of the Agreement on

Justifications in the U.S.-China National Security/Safeguards/Section 301 Tariff Fight

I have been puzzling over what is happening with the safeguards issues related to the U.S. steel/aluminum "national security" tariffs (and as I was drafting this post, Brett Williams raised the same issue in a comment here). This is what I see so far. Safeguards Agreement

China Retaliates Against the U.S. Steel/Aluminum Tariffs

This is from the Financial Times: China has unveiled retaliatory duties on US food imports including pork, fruit, nuts and wine of up to 25 per cent as a response to the Trump administration’s new tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. Beijing said the additional duties on 128 kinds

Forced Technology Transfer and the WTO

This is from the U.S. statements at the DSB meeting on March 27: The United States would be pleased to discuss at length the seriously trade distorting policies adopted by China that are the subject of the ongoing Section 301 investigation mentioned in China’s statement. It is these

Operative Time Frames for the Imposition of the China Section 301 Tariffs

Jennifer Hillman asked me to post the following: Does anyone know what the operative time frames are for the imposition of the China 301 tariffs? The President’s memorandum of March 22, in using the language “unreasonable or discriminatory and that burdens or restricts U.S. commerce,” has made it