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Simon Lester

Electric Vehicle Tax Credits and Non-Discrimination under the Inflation Reduction Act

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that was recently passed by the Senate has a complex set of assembly and content requirements for its electric vehicle (EV) tax credits. This post offers a few thoughts on domestic content requirements as a matter of policy, possible U.S. justifications under WTO law

Can Tariffs Help Bring Down Carbon Emissions? Maybe, But Probably Not Under Current Proposals

Recently, I came across two arguments for the U.S. and EU to use tariffs as penalties designed to bring down carbon emissions: * Senator Sheldon Whitehouse suggested that "laggards and high polluting countries [will be] forced to step up and comply by virtue of the economic pressure on them

The Turkey - Pharmaceutical Products Article 25 (Appellate Review) Award

Meet the new appellate review, same as the old appellate review? That was my first thought as I read the Article 25 arbitration award in Turkey - Pharmaceutical Products, the first time Article 25 has been used for appellate review. But I have only just skimmed it quickly at this

Dani Rodrik's Latest

For almost as long as I've been working in trade policy, Dani Rodrik has been pushing for more protectionism and industrial policy, less trade and globalization, and weaker international trade institutions. He calls his latest argument for this approach "productivism," and he recently wrote a short

ANZSIL IEL Interest Group Call for Papers and Invitation to Workshop

This is from the Australia and New Zealand Society of International Law: CALL FOR PAPERS FOR AND INVITATION TO 2022 WORKSHOP The ANZSIL International Economic Law Interest Group (IELIG) was established in 2011 to provide a forum for those interested in international economic law, especially international regulation of trade, investment,

Challenging China's Export Credits at the WTO

A couple years ago, I wrote about the possibility of challenging China's export credit practices under WTO rules. In that post, I noted the skepticism of others about such a challenge, and concluded with this: I have more hope for a systemic case against China's export

Sabine Weyand Comments on WTO Dispute Settlement Reform

At a CSIS event today on "Rethinking Trade In a Geopolitical Context: Trends and Transatlantic Cooperation," European Commission Director General for Trade Sabine Weyand spoke with Bill Reinsch about a number of issues, and they had this exchange on WTO dispute settlement reform: Reinsch: This [question] comes from

General vs. Specific Non-Discrimination Obligations and Exceptions in Digital Trade

Following up on my last post, let me go into more detail about an issue that was under the surface in that post but I didn't really get in to: I think there is some overlap between a general non-discrimination obligation, on the one hand, and a specific

Russian Aggression on Ukraine from the International Economic Law Perspective - Webinar

This is from Professor Marcin Menkes about an upcoming webinar: Russian Aggression on Ukraine from the International Economic Law Perspective 14 July 2022 Time zone: CET Venue: This is an online conference. Please register here Conveners: Prof. Marcin J. Menkes, Warsaw School of Economics Prof. Csongor István Nagy, University of

Non-Discriminatory Treatment of Digital Trade Products in the EU-NZ FTA

Last year, I did some blog posts and a short paper that looked at the wording of the provision in digital trade chapters/agreements on "Non‐ Discriminatory Treatment of Digital Products." The basic point was that the usual language in this provision refers to "digital products,"