International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

The Role of Voters and Policymakers in U.S. Trade Policy, Then and Now

The recent Trade Talks podcast with former USTR General Counsel Stephen Vaughn was very informative. Soumaya and Chad have been kind enough to put together a transcript of the episode. There's a lot to talk about in there. I'm going to kick things off with one

WTO Dispute Settlement and the Appellate Body Crisis: Insider perceptions and Members’ revealed preferences

Bernard Hoekman sends along this summary of a newly released paper: The Appellate Body crisis usually is presented as the U.S. against the world. Many WTO Members have made clear that they regard a dysfunctional AB as a serious problem for the trading system. One reason is that, depending

Investment Arbitration Reporter Seeks New Contributors/Analysts

This is a great opportunity for young folks in the field of international investment law: Investment Arbitration Reporter is looking for one or more persons to join our team of freelance contributors IAReporter offers specialized reporting on developments in the field of international investment law. We read and digest legal

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