International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

The Role of Appellate Body Rulings as Precedent: Suggestions from Japan and Australia

This is from a communication from Japan and Australia: 2 DRAFT DECISION The Dispute Settlement Body, Having regard to paragraph 1 of Article 2 and Article 17 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU), Affirming that recommendations and rulings made by the DSB are

Toning Down WTO Precedent

This is from last week's China - TRQs panel report: 6.20. The United States requests that the reference to a "well-established principle in WTO case law" in paragraph 7.212 be deleted, since it could be "misunderstood as indicating that prior panel and appellate

Contracting Party vs. Member

This is from last week's China - TRQs panel report: 6.18. The United States requests that the term "contracting party" be replaced by the term "Member" in paragraph 7.187.120 China has not commented on this request. We note that the term

Guest Post: Might WTO Law Prevent Climate Change Mitigation Affecting Agricultural Trade?

This is a guest post from Christian Häberli of the World Trade Institute The Great Taboo – Or will somebody please tell me where I am wrong? The multilateral trading system is presently facing what some observers call an existential crisis with possibly dramatic consequences. So much so that nobody finds

New Book on EU Trade Law

U.S. trade policy is grabbing most of the headlines these days, but EU trade policy has seen some big changes as well. Rafael Leal-Arcas sends the following summary of his new book on EU Trade Law: This book is an attempt to do a thorough chronological analysis of the

Would the New NAFTA Reduce Policy Uncertainty?

This is a key passage from the ITC's USMCA report: Provisions That Reduce Policy Uncertainty for International Data Transfer, Cross-border Services, and Investment Many of the provisions in USMCA represent commitments to maintaining current regulatory conditions. In many of these cases, firms have operated under regulatory conditions in

The ITC's USMCA Report: Reducing "Policy Uncertainty" is the Key Factor

This seems to be a key part of the ITC's USMCA report (pp. 43, 58): Of the eight USMCA components included in the economy-wide model, provisions that reduce policy uncertainty about international data flows, cross-border services, and investment, as well as certain automotive rules of origin, have the

The ITC's USMCA Report: The IP Section

This is from the IP section of the ITC's USMCA report (starts on p. 213): Modeling of Changes to Key IPR Provisions The Commission’s quantitative assessment of the effects of key IPR changes in USMCA identifies the statistical relationships between trade in certain IPR-intensive manufacturing sectors and

The ITC's USMCA Report: The ISDS Section

This is the ISDS section of the ITC's USMCA report (starts on p. 199, footnotes omitted): Modeling of Changes to Key ISDS Provisions The Commission’s quantitative assessment of the ISDS provisions sought to identify how the changes in ISDS provisions could affect the U.S. economy as

Highlights of the ITC Report on the USMCA's "Likely Impact on the U.S. Economy and on Specific Industry Sectors"

Here's the headline number from today's ITC report on the impact of USMCA: The Commission’s model estimates that USMCA would raise U.S. real GDP by $68.2 billion (0.35 percent) and U.S. employment by 176,000 jobs (0.12 percent). The model