International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

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from the editors of the Trade, Law and Development journal: The Board of Editors of TL&D is pleased to invite original, unpublished manuscripts for publication in the General Issue of the Journal (Vol.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

Essays in Honour of Valerie Hughes: Appellate Review, WTO Secretariat Handling FTA Disputes, and Much More

Nicolas Lamp recently put together a book honoring the great Valerie Hughes: "Reckoning and Renewal: The World Trade Organization and Its Dispute Settlement System at 30, Essays in Honour of Valerie Hughes."

Some Interesting Provisions in the EU-Mercosur Interim Trade Agreement DS Chapter

We appear to be moving closer to a completed EU-Mercosur trade agreement, with the European Council announcing last week that it had "adopted two decisions authorising the signature of the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement (EMPA) and of the Interim Trade Agreement (iTA) between the EU and Mercosur." It also

2025 Had the Most WTO Complaints Since 2019

Despite the ongoing crisis with the WTO Appellate Body, which has been only partially solved by the creation of the MPIA, 2025 saw a bit of an increase in the filing of requests for consultations under the DSU.

Guest Post: Threat-Based Trade Remedies in the EU: Increasing Use Amid Urgent Climate Objectives

This is a guest post from Florin D. Dascalescu, Senior legal counsel at the European Investment Fund (EIF) Introduction This post is based on my recent article published in the Journal of World Trade (JWT),[i] which examines several legal concepts by using as an example the EU anti-subsidy (AS)

Is Foreign Antitrust Enforcement "Discriminatory" and "Anti-American"?

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust held a hearing in December on "Anti-American Antitrust: How Foreign Governments Target U.S. Businesses." There was a lot of talk at the hearing about how foreign regulations and regulators "discriminate" against American companies.

Questions about the Trump Administration's Trade Deals and Compatibility with WTO Obligations

An issue that has been raised in relation to the Trump administration's various trade deals is whether they are compatible with WTO obligations. GATT Article XXIV, along with the Uruguay Round Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV, sets out specific conditions that bilateral/regional deals on trade

The U.S. Comments On the MPIA and Treaty Interpretation

At the December 19 DSB meeting, the U.S. tied one of its broad criticisms of the WTO dispute settlement system to a recent criticism by another WTO Member of a specific MPIA award: • We would like to make one further point in response to the interventions we just heard

Call for Papers: 2026 ILA-ASIL EastMed-MENA Research Forum

This is from Anastasios Gourgourinis, George Dimitropoulos, and Marios Tokas: The 2026 ILA-ASIL EastMed-MENA Research Forum, organized by the International Law Association - Hellenic Branch and the American Society of International Law, invites paper proposals for its meeting on 9–10 July 2026 in Athens, Greece. The 2026 edition of