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Simon Lester

The IEEPA Lawsuits and Charming Betsy

By my count, so far there have been five lawsuits filed in U.S. court related to either the IEEPA fentanyl tariffs or the IEEPA "reciprocal"/universal tariffs: - Barnes v. U.S., CIT (complaint) (fentanyl tariffs) - Emily Ley Paper v. Trump, U.S. district court, N.

Questions About the Upcoming Trade Deals

There have been a lot of U.S. tariffs in recent months, and it's getting hard to keep track of them all. This post deals with the IEEPA "reciprocal tariffs" announced on April 2, rather than the earlier IEEPA fentanyl tariffs or the various Section 232

Stephen Miran on the U.S. Providing Global Public Goods

Last week, Stephen Miran, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, gave a speech at the Hudson Institute in which he explained that the U.S. deserved compensation for certain "global public goods" it provides to the world. In his opening remarks, he identified two such public

Guest Post: Japan Signals a Possible Shift Away from the WTO Dispute Settlement System in Response to U.S. “Reciprocal Tariffs”

This is a guest post from Yoshimichi Ishikawa, Associate Professor, University of Shizuoka, Japan For decades, Japan has adhered to the principle that trade disputes should be addressed strictly within the WTO dispute settlement framework. This long-standing position may now be facing a turning point. On April 2, 2025, the

Andrew P. Vance Memorial Writing Competition Call for Papers

This is from the Customs and International Trade Bar Association (CITBA) and Georgetown Law School The Customs and International Trade Bar Association (CITBA) and Georgetown Law School are pleased to announce 2024-2025 Andrew P. Vance Memorial writing Competition. The competition is welcoming papers with an in-depth analysis of a current

Guest Post: How to (legally) respond to the ‘reciprocal’ tariffs announced by the Trump administration?

This is a guest post from Antoine Comont, Ph.D Candidate at Laval University and the University of Bordeaux If respecting international law is a virtue that still makes sense to you, the question for each of the countries affected by the tariffs announced yesterday by the administration is how

A Few Answers To My Questions about Trump's Reciprocal Tariffs

Last week, I asked a lot of questions related to what we might expect from Trump's "reciprocal tariffs." Now we have a few answers in the Executive Order and a fact sheet from yesterday. Let's go through them. Which statutes will they use as

Guest Post: How to retaliate against looming Trump tariffs

This is a guest post from Simon Schropp (BRG and George Washington University) and Kornel Mahlstein (Sidley Austin LLP) Eight weeks into the Trump Administration it appears that the “Trump tariffs” on America’s closest allies are not mere posture. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on March 18 that the

The U.S. Argument that GATT Article XX Applies to Non-GATT Goods Agreements (Including the SCM Agreement)

In its first written submission in the U.S. - IRA Tax Credits WTO dispute (DS623), the U.S. makes a number of arguments people might find interesting. First, there's a new invocation of the GATT Article XXI security exception related to the exclusion under the Internal Revenue

Passing of Steve Charnovitz

I was saddened to hear of the passing this week of the great trade law scholar Steve Charnovitz, a professor at GW law school. The full list of his scholarly works can be found at his personal website. Steve was also one of the founding bloggers here at the IELP