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Simon Lester

A Couple Comments on Boris Johnson's Trade Speech

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the following in a speech today: We have the opportunity, we have the newly recaptured powers, we know where we want to go, and that is out into the world. And today in Geneva as our ambassador Julian Braithwaite moves seats in the WTO

Guest Post: Update from ‘the Void’: Questions for the new Interim Appeal Agreement (IAAA)

This is a guest post by Mattijs Kempynck* & Akhil Raina** Introduction: Learning how to say ‘I-A-A-A’ The recent Davos summit filled in the ‘void’ somewhat. Ever since the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Appellate Body (AB) became non-functional in early December last year, commentators of all hues had been

Deadline for SIEL / JIEL / OUP Essay Prize Approaching: 14 February 2020

Deadline for SIEL / JIEL / OUP Essay Prize Approaching: 14 February 2020 The annual SIEL / JIEL / OUP Essay Prize is awarded to the best essay submitted on any topic in the field of international economic law. It is open to all current undergraduate and graduate students of any university or other

Blog Review of Quinn Slobodian's "Globalists"

I wish the trade wars would slow down a bit so I could do more reflective thinking about big picture issues, rather than constantly monitoring twitter for the latest trade emergency. That doesn't look it will happen any time soon, but I was able to fit in a

Joe Biden on Trade Policy

This is from a Joe Biden interview with the NY Times editorial board: BA: You’ve talked about the urgency of the climate change. The new NAFTA agreement includes no measures aimed at dealing with climate change. At what point should Democrats stop voting for international agreements that fail to

Call for Papers - Rethinking the Role of Institutions in Economic Integration

The law journal Legal Issues of Economic Integration will be holding a conference to assess the changing role of institutions in economic integration, including proposed, contested and new institutions in bilateral, regional and global settings. The conference will take place at the Amsterdam Law School on 8 May 2020. Proposals

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