International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

The Labor Provisions in the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment

The EU has published a number of parts of the text of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) here. The "Investment and Sustainable Development" section is here. This is the substantive language on labor rights: Sub-Section 3 – Investment and Labour Article 1: Right to regulate The Parties

Two Upcoming Online Events: The WTO Panel Process, and U.S. Trade Policy in the Biden Administration

I'll be the moderator for two online events next week, one hosted by ASIL/IIEL on the WTO panel process, and the other hosted by SIEL on U.S. trade policy under the Biden administration. Here are the details and links: ASIL/IIEL - Rethinking the WTO Panel

The Trump/Lighthizer Legacy on Trade

With the Trump administration now finished, we are in the period where people will be spinning Trump's time in office into the narrative they want to create. On trade policy, Trump's U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer spent some of his final weeks in office trying

Americans on the WTO Indicative List of Panelists

Back in April of 2017, I said this: while the indicative list of panelists does not have much correlation to people who actually serve as panelists, a former intern of mine named Christina Woo put together this cool table of Americans on the indicative list since the GATT era. The

Trade Policy and Race/Ethnicity

There was some Twitter discussion last week of a new paper from Global Trade Watch called "Trade Discrimination: The Disproportionate, Underreported Damage to U.S. Black and Latino Workers From U.S. Trade Policies." I can see how it would be useful to study the impact of U.

Guest Post from the European Commission: Candidates for adjudicators in EU trade agreements

This is from Colin Brown of the European Commission: Candidates for adjudicators in EU trade agreements On 18 December 2020 the European Commission and the EU’s Member States initiated a call for candidates to be appointed as adjudicators in EU trade agreements. The aim is to establish a pool

Jake Sullivan on the Biden Administration's Trade Policy Towards China and Towards Allies

Joe Biden's choice for National Security Adviser is Jake Sullivan. Sullivan was on Fareed Zakaria's TV show yesterday, and they had the following exchange: ZAKARIA: ... Jake, one of the things that Joe Biden said on the campaign trail often and forcefully was that Donald Trump'

A Few Quick Thoughts on the "Rebalancing" Provisions in the "Level Playing Field" Section of the UK-EU Trade Agreement

As a Christmas gift of sorts, the UK and EU gave us their new trade agreement yesterday (still needs to undergo a legal scrub I think). There is a long section on creating a "level playing field." Here is a key bit of the part relating to "

Countervailing Weak Environmental Protections

This is from a Draft Ministerial Decision submitted by the U.S. under the title "Advancing Sustainability Goals through Trade Rules to Level the Playing Field": Believing that no Member should gain a comparative advantage in trade due to insufficient or unenforced environmental laws, regulations, and standards; ... Recognizing

Some Comments on the Trump Administration's Final Statement to the DSB on the Appellate Body

In what may be the last official statement by the Trump administration on the Appellate Body, Ambassador Shea offered these comments at the December 18 DSB meeting. I have some responses to his comments. I will do this in three parts, quoting him and then responding. First up, he said