International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Simon Lester

How Exactly Will the New NAFTA's Sunset Clause Work?

The final version of the sunset clause in the new NAFTA (USMCA) reads as follows: Article 34.7: Review and Term Extension 1. This Agreement shall terminate 16 years after the date of its entry into force, unless each Party confirms it wishes to continue this Agreement for a new

Guest Post: RIP NAALC: North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation

This is a guest post from University of Miami law prof Kathleen Claussen: The legal scrub of the labor chapter of the USMCA did not yield many changes since the publication of the draft text two months ago – a few “any”s became “a”s and a few “agree”s

Guest Post: International Commerce and World Wars: Vital Signs of the Current Malaise

This is a guest post by Joao Otavio Benevides Demasi, a Ph.D student at Maastricht University: This brief and incomplete essay is written in the broad intersection of WTO Law, World Diplomacy, Economic Policy, Analysis of the International Relations, Political Sciences, and History of International Economic Relations. For the

Guest Post: Critical analysis of the EU DSU Reform Proposal

This is a guest post by Prakhar Bhardwaj, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Trade and Investment Law, New Delhi. All views expressed here are personal. The joint communication from the European Union and 11 other nations to be tabled in the General Council meeting scheduled for 12-13 December 2018 (“EU

The Progressive Parts of the New NAFTA: Footnotes at War with Obligations

Recall that the original Article 23.9 of the new NAFTA said this: Article 23.9 Sex-Based Discrimination in the Workplace The Parties recognize the goal of eliminating sex-based discrimination in employment and occupation, and support the goal of promoting equality of women in the workplace. Accordingly, each Party shall

The Difficult Task of Getting the New NAFTA Through Congress

The new NAFTA -- AKA, the USMCA here in the U.S., but different acronyms in Canada and Mexico -- has now been signed. With apologies to the hard-working negotiators, that was the easy part. Now the Trump administration has to get Congress to sign off. Ambassador Lighthizer sounds confident:

Guest Post: What’s our goal for Buenos Aires: Help the US or hurt China?

This is a guest post from law professor David Trubek: With a meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi at the G-20 in Buenos Aires about to occur, many hope for a truce in the trade war and a deal that will benefit both countries. But that will not happen if

Guest Post: Brexit. Maybe not such bad news for intra-EU investment awards after Achmea?

This is a guest post from Szilárd Gáspár Szilágyi, Postdoctoral Fellow, PluriCourts, University of Oslo On 29 March 2019, 11 pm, the UK will officially leave the European Union, unless by some miracle it decides to withdraw its notification to exit the Union. Everyone is anxiously awaiting the outcome of

Geoeconomics: The Variable Relationship Between Economics and Security

This is more from Anthea Roberts, Henrique Choer Moraes, Victor Ferguson on geoeconomics at the Lawfare blog: There has been much consternation (particularly in the United States) about China’s use of geoeconomic strategies, meaning the “use of economic instruments to promote and defend national interests, and to produce beneficial

Do Anti-Dumping Measures Address Market Distortions?

This is from the latest WTO monitoring report on G20 trade measures: Regarding trade remedy actions, it has been highlighted in discussions among G20 economies, as well as more broadly in the WTO, that some of these measures are taken to address what is perceived by some as a market