International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

Does Plain Packaging Regulation Reduce Smoking?

Here are some excerpts from a paper which casts doubt on the idea that plain packaging regulation, by itself anyway, reduces smoking: ... we contribute to the existing empirical literature in three ways. First, we use a difference-in-differences (DiD) research design to evaluate the effect of plain packaging. Using data from

Appealing Into the Void in DS533

A document from the United States that is labelled as a "notification of an appeal" in the DS533 softwood lumber case has been circulated at the WTO. In that document, the United States does not list any specific points of appeal, and says: At this time, no division

Giorgio Sacerdoti Letter to the WSJ in Response to Lighthizer's Op-Ed

Giorgio Sacerdoti sent along the following letter he wrote in response to the Lighthizer WSJ op-ed from last month: Letter to the Editor, Wall Street Journal Milan, 29 August 2020 Dear Mr Lemmer, It was refreshing for all those who believe in the advantages of a multilateral rule-based trading system

What Would Biden Do About China's Trade Practices?

This is from a CNN Town Hall last week: GARRY HARTMAN, BUSINESSMAN: Vice President Biden, Cheetah Chassis is located in Berwick, Pennsylvania, where we produce intermodal container chassis. We're a small family-owned business that is facing unfair trade container chassis imports from, we'll call, a massive

Webinar — Investment Protection under the New NAFTA: Problems and Prospects

If you are not webinar'd out at this point, and if you can remember the USMCA, which seems like ages ago, here are the details on a Webinar I'll be participating in this Thursday with the Baker Institute at Rice University: At this webinar — the second

Panel Report on Section 301 Tariffs Against China (DS543)

The panel report in United States - Tariff Measures on Certain Goods from China (DS543) was circulated today. There are some big picture issues related to the dispute (e.g., will the U.S. appeal it into the void?), but I want to focus on an obscure interpretive point related

If Everything Is Industrial Policy, Is Anything Industrial Policy?

Law professor Ganesh Sitaraman has a piece arguing in favor of an industrial policy for the United States. He laments that "[o]ver time, industrial policy ultimately became the Lord Voldemort of economics, so evil and dangerous that it must not be named," and he wants to make

Joe Biden on NAFTA/China/Trade in General

This is from an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper that aired yesterday: TAPPER: Don't you think that one of the reasons why President Trump has been able to appeal to the blue-collar workers that you talk about is because of his message on trade? And that

Rethinking ISDS: Australia vs. UNCITRAL

Back in May, UNCITRAL published a Note by the Secretariat on "Resources to implement the work programme with respect to investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) reform." I was surprised to read this part: 24. Under the current pattern of meetings, Working Group III meets twice a year for a

Is Lighthizer a Protectionist?

Someone asked him that question at a recent event and here's what he said (starts around 45:30) Q: “Are you a protectionist?” A: “Well, you see, that’s interesting. So, what actually does that mean? That’s why when I started out I sort of said, and