International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

The U.S. Domestic Politics of International Trade Dispute Mechanisms Involving China

This is from an article by Chris Horseman of Borderlex on the progress (or lack thereof) on WTO dispute settlement reform: “No US trade representative is going to go before Congress and say, ‘I’ve agreed to binding dispute settlement between China and the US’. It is simply not politically

Should a WTO Appeals Body Be Able To Uphold an Appealed Issue Without Any Reasoning?

Back in June 2019, when the Appellate Body was hanging on for dear life, I offered this argument for allowing the Appellate Body to decline to offer any reasoning in situations where it was just upholding a panel's finding: I recently read something about the U.S. Judiciary

Peter Harrell on a More "Targeted" Trade Strategy

Peter Harrell has a piece in Foreign Affairs entitled "How to China-Proof the Global Economy: America Needs a More Targeted Strategy." Harrell was the Senior Director for International Economics and Competitiveness on the White House National Security Council in the Biden administration, and I think of him as

Why Is Dumping "Condemned" in the GATT?

GATT Article VI:1 states the following about dumping: The contracting parties recognize that dumping, by which products of one country are introduced into the commerce of another country at less than the normal value of the products, is to be condemned if it causes or threatens material injury to

A Very Old Semiconductors and National Security Trade Dispute

Through some searches I don't recall the details of, I stumbled on this paper, which makes reference to an old U.S. national security dispute over imports of semiconductor products: ... The very first trade dispute in semiconductors was in 1959. American transistor producers sought protection from Japanese exports

Chip Subsidies, Exports, and CVDs

Subsidies are a big part of the Biden administration's economic policy, with a variety of types available. Some go directly to producers, while others are in the form of tax credits for consumers on their purchases of goods. How much is being spent? For semiconductor subsidies, which as

Some Digital Trade Policy Proposals for the Biden Administration on Data Flow Obligations and Exceptions

Based on a couple recent meetings I was a part of, I thought it might be helpful to put together some specific proposals for digital trade provisions related to data flow obligations and exceptions, in the context of international economic agreements. The Biden administration appears to be having some internal

More on Trade Enforcement

In my last post, I said this about trade enforcement at the WTO and under the U.S.-China Phase One deal: ... if the U.S. wants to enforce the WTO agreements in relation to the foreign trade barriers it has identified to the same extent other governments -- such

Katherine Tai on Trade Enforcement

Last week, U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai spoke at the Aspen Security Forum and had the following things to say about U.S. enforcement of trade agreements: In terms of trade enforcement, in order for our trade agreements, and our trade arrangements, to have integrity, we have to hold

The EU-Japan Approach to Data Flow Obligations and Exceptions

I've done several posts on digital trade provisions in which I set out the data flow obligations and the exceptions, and consider whether the drafters have struck a good balance in terms of promoting data flows while preserving regulatory space. A recent draft amendment to the existing EU-Japan