International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

Some Responses to Lighthizer's Recommendations for the WTO

Former U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer has a new book on trade policy. I haven't read the whole book, and I'll leave a full review to others. However, I did come across an excerpt of his seven specific recommendations for the WTO, and I had

More Ron DeSantis on China Trade

As I track U.S. presidential candidates' statements on trade policy, I'm not always going to offer commentary. Sometimes I'll just post the full text, as part of an effort to document everything being said. Here is Ron DeSantis talking to Maria Bartiromo on Fox

A WTO DS Workaround for Appeals Into the Void

Where the party complained against in a WTO dispute appeals into the void and thereby blocks an adverse panel report from having legal effect, can the complaining party just treat the panel report as the final word and move forward with retaliation? The EU has set up a process for

Is Everything We Thought about the World Economy Wrong?

This post is a response to a NY Times piece from a couple weeks ago called "Why It Seems Everything We Knew About the Global Economy Is No Longer True," by the Times' global economics correspondent Patricia Cohen. In my view, there are a number of overstatements

Nikki Haley on Chinese Trade and Investment

At AEI today, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley gave a speech on the Future of US-China Policy, and in that context said some things about issues related to trade and investment with China. First up, like many other people these days, she wants to revisit the decision to let China

Guest Post: WTO Overload: Time to Offload

This is a guest post by Bashar Malkawi, Global Professor of Practice in Law at the University of Arizona The WTO system by and large is overloaded. Those who are involved in the WTO system frequently seek to extract more from the WTO system than the process can, practically and

Ron DeSantis on China Trade

Unfortunately, U.S. election season is upon us, and perhaps it would be useful if I documented the presidential candidates' statements on trade. That's mostly going to feature the Republican presidential hopefuls (and hopelesses, if that's a word!), but if Biden says anything new and

Katherine Tai on Colonialism and Industrialization

You don't see much talk about "colonialism" in mainstream U.S. trade policy discussions, so I was excited to see this from U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai in her speech last week: Whether it is through working with us on the Critical Minerals Agreement, the

Katherine Tai Speech on Resilience and Security

In remarks yesterday that a USTR press release referred to as a "major speech," U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai offered a detailed explanation and defense of the Biden administration's trade policy. There were a number of points I disagreed with, but instead of going line

WTO DS Reform Proposals: Sunset Clause, ADR, and Streamlining the Panel Process

Geneva-based reporter Ravi Kanth has another piece about the ongoing WTO dispute settlement reform discussions, offering some detail on three specific proposals: -- review/sunset clause -- ADR -- streamlining the panel process On review and sunset, Kanth says the following: The UK introduced the proposal with the interests here