International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

So Many Questions About the U.S.-China Trade Deal

Having had the text of the U.S. - China "Phase One" trade deal for almost 48 hours, I have so many questions. Here are a few of them: 1. What exactly did China agree to? There are a lot of obligations in here, and many of them

Notification of a Decision To Appeal vs. Notice of Appeal

As I've mentioned a couple times already (sorry, but this intrigues me!), the U.S. filed a notification of appeal in relation to the DS436 Article 21.5 panel report. The U.S. notification said this: the United States hereby notifies the Dispute Settlement Body of its decision

The U.S.-China Trade Deal Dispute Chapter: Effective Enforcement or Just More Tariffs?

As I first talked about here, it appears that the Trump administration has convinced China to sign on to a new kind of "unilateral" dispute resolution process as part of the the Economic and Trade Agreement between the U.S. and China, which was released today. Here'

Trade in Last Night's Democratic Debate

All the candidates on the stage got a chance to weigh in on trade in last night's Democratic debate. Here's what they said: PFANNENSTIEL: Thank you, Mr. Steyer. Let's stay with the theme of America's role in the world and talk about

Sanders and Warren Talk Trade with the NY Times

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren both talked to the NY Times editorial board recently, and trade was one of the issues raised (a tiny bit with Sanders, a lot with Warren). This is from the interview with Sanders: AK: I’m wondering if you could explain how your approach to

9th Conference of the Postgraduate and Early Professionals/Academics Network of the Society of International Economic Law (PEPA/SIEL) 2020 Jerusalem, 17-19 May 2020

The conference is organised by the Postgraduate and Early Professionals/Academics Network of the Society of International Economic Law (PEPA/SIEL) in collaboration with the International Law Forum and other sponsors at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. SIEL’s Postgraduate and Early Professionals/Academics Network (PEPA/SIEL) is, among other

Slaying Concerns about the WTO’s Faceless Bureaucrats

This is a guest post by Philippe de Baere, Henry Gao, Todd Friedbacher, Iain Sandford, Nicolas Lockhart, Isabelle Van Damme, Tania Voon, Alan Yanovich[1] Ever since countries first agreed rules to regulate international trade, they have disagreed about what the rules mean. International trade disputes raise sensitive political and

Senator Toomey on the USMCA Sunset Clause

This is from the Q & A at a recent AEI event with Senator Pat Toomey, hosted by Derek Scissors: Derek Scissors: ... Let’s not talk about what we agree on. Let’s talk about what we might disagree on, or at least disagree partly on. And I’ll start

Does Hiring Strikebreakers Violate the USMCA?

This is from Lance Compa of Cornell Law School: ... a more than two-months-long strike provoked by a multibillionaire Mexican business tycoon has cast a cloud over the new trade pact’s provisions to strengthen workers’ rights. Citing management’s bad-faith bargaining, nearly 2,000 workers have walked picket lines since

The Scorecard of the USMCA Protocol of Amendment

This post is by law professors David Gantz and Sergio Puig Introduction The U.S. House of Representatives approved December 19 the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) by an overwhelming margin of 385-41. The Senate is expected to do the same in mid-January. As everyone knows by now, USMCA is a