International Economic Law and Policy Blog

Sign in Subscribe

Simon Lester

Manufacturing and Trade Balances: A Response from Rob Atkinson

This is a response from Rob Atkinson of ITIF to my post on Manufacturing and Trade Balances: Recently Simon Lester and I got in a Twitter debate about the importance of the trade deficit and manufacturing. Interesting as far as these things go, but at some point you can only

Manufacturing and Trade Balances

Recently, I tweeted this about the trade balance: Ro Khanna's Twitter bio says "Trade surplus again." I wish people would think more deeply about the trade balance. Here are some good pieces to read: https://cato.org/blog/trade-deficit-disorder… https://cato.org/testimony/americas-misunderstood-trade-deficit… https://cato.

New Paper on "The Extension of Legal Precedent": How Much Reliance on Precedent Is Too Much?

Precedent in trade law is a hot topic these days. Jeffrey Kucik, Lauren Peritz, and Sergio Puig have a new article out called "Legalization and Compliance: How Judicial Activity Undercuts the Global Trade Regime." This is the abstract: The crisis facing the World Trade Organization illustrates the trade-off

U.S. Views on MPIA Arbitrators' Consideration of AD Agreement Legal Standard of Review

At last Friday's DSB meeting, the U.S. had some positive things to say about how the MPIA arbitrators in the Colombia - Frozen Fries dispute handled the issue of the AD Agreement Article 17.6(ii) legal standard of review: - The United States intervenes to comment

National Security Disputes, Non-Violation Nullification or Impairment, and Authoritative Interpretations

At today's DSB meeting, in the context of the consideration of the U.S. - Steel/Aluminum and U.S. Origin Marking panel reports, the U.S. offered the following explanation of why it was appealing the reports into the void, as well as some broader steps it

The Risks and Economic Consequences of Inefficiency

Here is something U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai said at a World Economic Forum event last week: So I think that whether it's in the world of goods trade, or services trade, or digital trade, part of what we are struggling with right now at this inflection

SIEL Call for Papers, Posters and Panels: Deadline Extended: 1 February 2023

This is from the SIEL: Please note that we have extended the deadline for the submission of paper, panel and poster proposals for SIEL 2023 until 1 February 2023. You can find the revised Call for Papers, Panels and Posters here.

USMCA Panel Report Circulated in Auto ROO Dispute

The panel report in the USMCA Chapter 31 auto rules of origin dispute was circulated today (our WorldTradeLaw.net Chapter 31 panel reports page is here). Based on a quick skim, the panel's findings seemed reasonable to me, but I may come back to this after having looked

Katherine Tai on National Security

At a CFR event in December, Christina Davis of Harvard asked U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai the following question about the WTO panel ruling on the Section 232 steel and aluminum duties: I'd like to ask about your response to the WTO panel ruling last week that

Guest Post: The Unilateralization of Trade Governance: Constructive, Reconstructive, and Deconstructive Unilateralism

This is a guest post by law professor Geraldo Vidigal. A revised version of this post will appear in the next issue of Legal Issues of Economic Integration. 1. Introduction The year 2022 was a paradoxical one for global trade governance. On the one hand, Members of the World Trade