International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

Trade in Last Night's Democratic Debate

Trade didn't come up too much in last night's Democratic debate, but here are a couple items: MADDOW: ... American farmers are struggling under the effects of President Trump's trade war with China. The Trump administration's payments to farmers to offset those losses

More on Economic Statecraft from the Left

A few months ago, I complained about some calls on the left for "economic statecraft." Now I see an argument from two Georgetown political science professors to the effect that progressives should leverage U.S. economic power to force other countries to adopt specific policies: ... A progressive administration

Does China Comply with Its WTO Obligations?

Over on twitter and elsewhere, I often hear vague allegations along the lines of "China cheats on its WTO obligations." There are two aspects to the issue of China's compliance with its WTO obligations: (1) How does China respond to WTO complaints brought against it, and

Questions (and Perhaps Some Answers) on the US-Japan Trade Agreement and GATT Article XXIV

I've heard it said informally that the U.S. - Japan trade agreement is an "interim agreement" under GATT Article XXIV:5. But I haven't seen either party make an official statement to that effect. It looks like members of Congress may be pressing

Guest Post: The risks of the use of Artificial Intelligence in International Arbitration

This is a guest post from Gabriela Sánchez of the Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá The International Arbitration system has been experiencing a growing and novel phenomenon that attempts to change the way we conceive it today: the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The use and impact of AI on

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

Guest Post: Chinese Financial Contributions to Producers Abroad: A Subsidy? Looks, Quacks, But Probably Isn't

This is a guest post by Victor Crochet, an Associate at Van Bael & Bellis, Brussels, and Vineet Hegde, a PhD researcher in WTO Law at the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies Professors Jennifer Hillman and Chad Bown are working on finding solutions to resolve the problem of Chinese

Guest Post: Is the Blocking of Appointments to the WTO Appellate Body by the United States Legally Justified?

This is a guest post from law professor Jens Lehne: As readers of this blog are well aware, since 2017 the US has blocked all appointments to the WTO Appellate Body, which will lead to the incapacitation of the Appellate Body in December of this year, when the terms of

Guest Post: Dani Rodrik and the Hawks: A field guide to the China-US Trade War

This is a guest post from law professor David Trubek: The media are full of announcements of a “truce” in the China-US trade war. The deal that is being finalized may halt further escalation for a time, but it does nothing to resolve the deeper issues that lie behind the

Is One Panel Meeting Enough?

This is from last week's India - Export Related Measures panel report: 1.3.2 Single substantive meeting of the Panel with the parties 1.9. On 3 August 2018, the Chairperson of the Panel, on behalf of the Panel, held a meeting with the parties to obtain