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Simon Lester

Chrystia Freeland on Global Imbalances and Fiscal Deficits

In a recent interview, Chrystia Freeland -- former Canadian trade minister and finance minister, and currently a candidate for leader of the Liberal Party -- made the following argument involving a connection between global macro imbalances and the U.S. fiscal deficit (starts at around 11:20 of the video)

A Few Trade Policy Items from the Howard Lutnick Hearing

The Senate hearing for Howard Lutnick's Secretary of Commerce nomination was held yesterday. The Commerce Department does a lot of things, so much of the discussion involved issues outside of trade policy. I'm going to go through some of the items that jumped out at me

Some Questions for Howard Lutnick

Howard Lutnick is Trump's nominee for Secretary of Commerce, and he will have a Senate nomination hearing on January 29. In anticipation of the hearing, I came up with some questions for Lutnick. Any Senators participating in the hearing are welcome to adopt these questions, or a variation

Katherine Tai on "Discrimination" against U.S. Companies and National Security Capture

Katherine Tai is no longer the U.S. Trade Representative, but I missed this podcast interview that took place while she was still in office, so I'm going to submit this blog post about her trade policy views a few days late. I only have two brief comments,

Would the U.S. Join a Version of the MPIA?

I have a new piece for the Japan Economic Foundation that asks "Would the United States Join the MPIA?" This is from the conclusion: The Appellate Body appointments crisis has dragged on for years now. The MPIA represents a solution for any WTO member that wants to ensure

Trump's Trade Policy, Day 1: Just a Memo

There was a great deal of anticipation about what tariffs Trump might impose on his first day in office, but ultimately we just got a memo. (In response to a question from a reporter, Trump did say "We're thinking in terms of 25 percent [tariffs] on Mexico

The Optimal Tariff Argument at the Scott Bessent Hearing

At his confirmation hearing last week, Treasury Secretary-nominee Scott Bessent mentioned "optimal tariff theory," which is something that always triggers me (although as I'll say later, I'm not sure he meant what he seemed to): Senator Ron Wyden: On the tariffs, Donald Trump, with

USTR's Model Negotiating Texts: Non-Market Practices and More

Last week, USTR released what it referred to as "Model Negotiating Texts" on a number of issues: * Competition Model Text * Inclusive Economy Chapter Model Text * Non-Market Policies and Practices (NMPPs) Model Text * Public Enterprise Model Text * Standards Model Text There's a lot to take in here,

The Latest on Appeal/Review in WTO DS Reform

I've been posting about official WTO documents related to appeal/review in dispute settlement reform. The latest one, from the heads of delegation meeting on November 21, is now available. There were no exciting new revelations, but just for the sake of completeness, I'm providing excerpts

Unfinished Business: Bringing China Into the Club of Market-Oriented Countries

Given where U.S. trade policy is at the moment, this doesn't seem like the best time for my latest piece, which is called "Unfinished Business: Bringing China Into the Club of Market-Oriented Countries." But sometimes all you can do is lay the groundwork for the