Jamieson Greer on the Rules-Based International Order
At an Atlantic Council event yesterday, Greg Ip of the WSJ asked U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer about how he sees the "rules-based international order" in the trading system these days
Simon Lester
Three Explanations for the Foreign Investment Pledges
In recent months, President Trump and the Trump administration have been touting a $20 trillion or so figure that they say foreign companies/governments have pledged to invest in the U.S. I've had trouble figuring out what to make of all this, but I have three theories
Economic Security in Trade Agreements: My Response to Geoff Gertz
Thanks to Geoff for laying out his vision of why economic security should be in trade agreements and how to bring it in. It won't surprise anyone to hear I have some additional comments and questions in response!
Guest Post: The Case for Bringing Economic Security Priorities into U.S. Trade Agreements, Part II
This is a guest post from Geoffrey Gertz of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), responding to my post on Economic and National Security Provisions in U.S. Trade Agreements
An earlier post made the case for why the United States should bring economic security commitments into trade
Guest Post: The Case for Bringing Economic Security Priorities into U.S. Trade Agreements, Part I
Thanks to Simon for kickstarting a debate on the prospect of bringing economic security provisions into trade agreements, and for allowing me to respond here.
Symposium on Tariffs and Trade Wars
Law professor Csongor István Nagy sends the following:
Jointly organized by the ELTE Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Legal Studies, the University of Galway’s LLM in International and Comparative Business Law, and the Hungarian Journal of Legal Studies, this hybrid symposium on December 2, 2025 offers insight into
Exemplars vs. Precedents in WTO Law
As most of this blog's readers are aware, there has been controversy over the "permissible interpretation" language in the legal standard of review in AD Agreement Article 17.6(ii).
Should Congress Codify Trump's Trade Deals?
For the purposes of domestic law, the trade deals negotiated by the Trump administration have been concluded as executive agreements, and there is no indication that the administration wants Congress to approve them via statute. Some members of Congress have raised this possibility though.
Reviewing the USMCA
Pursuant to the review of the USMCA provided for in Article 34.7, USTR has requested comments and is holding a hearing. USTR's comments portal shows 1,515 comments submitted, so a lot of people had things to say!
Trump's Cambodia Trade Deal, Arms Exports, and the Role of Non-Trade Concessions
In this post, I'm going to talk about some aspects of the recent U.S. trade deal with Cambodia that I haven't heard raised yet, including the following questions: (1) Is the decision to allow U.S. arms exports to Cambodia pursuant to this deal designed to boost U.S. manufacturing?