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Simon Lester

A Few Questions and Answers (and Then More Questions) about Trump's Trade Deals

As part of the questions for the record for U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer after he testified before the Senate Finance Committee on April 8, there was an interesting exchange between Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Greer related to any trade deals resulting from the IEEPA "reciprocal"

Is the U.S. Pulling Back on Its Hormone-Treated Beef Demands?

In my recent post about the U.S.-UK trade deal, I noted the discussion of hormone-treated beef at the White House press conference, including a response by U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer to a reporter's question. I did not take his answer, or the General Terms

ADR in the WTO

With the Appellate Body appointments process still blocked, people have been looking for alternative approaches in WTO dispute settlement. The MPIA is one alternative. With Paraguay recently joining, the MPIA is now up to 28 parties (including the EU-27). And as noted here, the MPIA is about to hear its

Does the Trump Administration Want a Strong or a Weak Dollar?

In a recent post, I brought up some of CEA Chair Stephen Miran's comments on the role of the dollar as the reserve currency, and wondered what the Trump administration's plans were on the value of the dollar: ... [Miran] makes clear that he wants the dollar

The "General Terms" of the U.S.-UK Trade Deal: A Few Answers, Still Lots of Questions

On Thursday, U.S. and UK officials held a press conference on a new trade deal, and issued some press releases, remarks, and fact sheets, as well as a "General Terms for the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Economic Prosperity

The Second MPIA Appeal

The second appeal of a WTO panel report to the MPIA is underway in the China - IPRs Enforcement (EU) dispute (DS611). It will be interesting to see what approach the arbitrators take in terms of their scrutiny of the panel report. On the fairly technical IP issues that were

More on Charming Betsy

In my last post, I raised the possibility that Charming Betsy could play a role in the challenges to the Trump administration's IEEPA tariffs. (There have been three new complaints filed since that post: State of Oregon v. Trump, Learning Resources v. Trump, and Princess Awesome v. CBP.

The IEEPA Lawsuits and Charming Betsy

By my count, so far there have been five lawsuits filed in U.S. court related to either the IEEPA fentanyl tariffs or the IEEPA "reciprocal"/universal tariffs: - Barnes v. U.S., CIT (complaint) (fentanyl tariffs) - Emily Ley Paper v. Trump, U.S. district court, N.

Questions About the Upcoming Trade Deals

There have been a lot of U.S. tariffs in recent months, and it's getting hard to keep track of them all. This post deals with the IEEPA "reciprocal tariffs" announced on April 2, rather than the earlier IEEPA fentanyl tariffs or the various Section 232

Stephen Miran on the U.S. Providing Global Public Goods

Last week, Stephen Miran, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, gave a speech at the Hudson Institute in which he explained that the U.S. deserved compensation for certain "global public goods" it provides to the world. In his opening remarks, he identified two such public