International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

Guest Post: Why couldn’t the Russia-Ukraine BIT be used to claim compensation for war damage and frozen Russian assets to satisfy these investment awards?

This is a guest post from Csongor István Nagy, Professor of Law at the University of Galway, Ireland, and at the University of Szeged, Hungary, and research professor at the HUN-REN Center for Social Sciences, Hungary At first it may raise eyebrows. But think it over! Why couldn’t the

Non-Market Economy Status and Inducing Market-Oriented Reforms

For the purposes of U.S. anti-dumping/countervailing duty law, the Commerce Department maintains a list of non-market economies. Vietnam is one of the economies on that list. A March 2024 Congressional Research Service paper on "Vietnam’s Nonmarket Economy (NME) Status" notes that the government of Vietnam

What Do Americans Think about Trade Policy?

Scott Lincicome and some Cato Institute polling experts have worked with YouGov to put together what I think is the definitive work on Americans' views of trade policy. For me, two of the most important findings are: (1) American voters think of trade as much less important than other

Tim Walz on the Foreign Policy / Trade Policy Relationship

After Kamala Harris announced Tim Walz as her running mate yesterday, there has been a lot of discussion of Walz's policy views. Vice-Presidents don't typically take the lead on trade policy, but nonetheless I thought it was worth mentioning something Walz said in a speech back

Is the U.S. Going to Propose Security Exception Reforms?

During a DSB meeting in January 2023, the U.S. indicated that it would be seeking an "authoritative interpretation" of the GATT security exception: The United States believes that Members need to deepen their collective understanding of this issue that is so critical to all of us. We

What Would a Kamala Harris Trade Policy Look Like?

There was a lot of speculation last week about what Kamala Harris would do on trade policy (and various other policies). I thought this piece by Alan Beattie of the FT offered a very thoughtful and objective evaluation of where things might go on trade and industrial policy in a

WTO Member Statements on Appeal/Review in the DS Reform Process

The WTO Dispute Settlement Reform Process is underway. The WTO website provides brief overviews of the meetings as they happen, but for those of us who want more than just a short summary, we can follow it a few weeks behind the actual current developments as meeting minutes are derestricted.

More from the Biden Administration on Chinese Overcapacity

A couple months ago, I did a post on "Subsidies, Overcapacity, and Domestic Demand/Savings," in which I argued that, in the context of concerns about Chinese overcapacity, it would be better to focus on Chinese subsidies than on differences in U.S./China domestic demand and savings

The Trade Section of the GOP 2024 Platform

I'm not sure how important party platforms are, but they probably have at least some relevance. Here's the section of the Republicans' 2024 platform on trade policy, which has been shaped by Trump's protectionist views on trade: CHAPTER FIVE: PROTECT AMERICAN WORKERS AND

The Passing of Frederick Ikenson

My friend and former colleague Dan Ikenson informs me of the sad news of the passing of his father, Frederick Ikenson, who was a long-time Washington, DC-based trade and customs lawyer. Fred practiced in this field for over five decades, so many of this blog's readers probably got