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Simon Lester

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

Would a U.S. Carbon Border Tax Pressure Other Countries To Reduce Emissions, or Just Lead To Retaliation?

A recent Washington Post article describes a new piece of U.S. legislation that could eventually lead to the imposition of a carbon border tax: In a rare example of a bipartisan climate policy, momentum is growing on Capitol Hill for a plan to tax imports from China and other

USTR Goes Old School in USMCA Complaint on Mexican GE Corn Ban

Back in the 1990s, an important area of the trade policy debate was about how WTO rules might interfere with domestic environmental, food safety, and other public policy measures. There were cases such as Shrimp/Turtle, with a number of countries challenging a U.S. environmental measure; and EC -

The Supreme Court's Latest Ruling on the Dormant Commerce Clause: More Evidence that People Disagree on the Appropriate Degree of Economic Integration

It has been a while since I've written about a U.S. Supreme Court dormant Commerce Clause case, but the recent National Pork Producers Council v. Ross decision provides a great opportunity to revisit the issue. Steve Charnovitz commented on the decision here. (Here are some other takes:

Opt Outs, NVNI, or Automatic Rebalancing for National Security Disputes

Veteran U.S. trade lawyers Warren Maruyama and Alan Wolff have a new paper out on "Saving the WTO from the national security exception". In their conclusion, they set out three solutions to the "impasse over justiciability of national security claims": (1) allowing Members to "

Protectionism, Competition, and Corporate Power

Here's something U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai said in a recent interview with PBS: In trade policy, it's something very interesting, and I've seen this happen in competition policy, where the anti-monopoly folks, antitrust people are working. We see in both of these

Battle of the Gruyeres

Back in January 2022, I wrote about a U.S. federal court ruling that Gruyere is a generic cheese term, which meant that, despite the protests of the Swiss cheese industry, U.S. producers could make Gruyere cheese and put the word "Gruyere" on the product label in

Warren, Doggett, et al. Letter on Removing ISDS from Existing Agreements

Thirty-three Democratic members of Congress, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Lloyd Doggett, recently sent a letter to U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai and Secretary of State Antony Blinken about ISDS. One point they made in the letter is that ISDS should be removed from existing investment treaties

Does Ro Khanna Want To Get Rid of the Specificity Requirement in WTO Subsidies Rules?

In a recent post, I quoted a speech by Congressman Ro Khanna, in which he said: The US needs to work with our allies to pursue a broad WTO dispute case against the PRC. One hurdle is that the current Dispute Settlement process cannot litigate in key China-related areas that