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The U.S. - Japan Deal: More Than Just "In Principle" Now?

I mentioned a possible U.S.-Japan trade deal here, described a couple weeks ago as an "agreement in principle". Things seem to have progressed a bit, with the Trump administration just issuing the following "Presidential Message to Congress Regarding the Notification of Initiation of United States–
Simon Lester 16 Sep 2019 2 min read

Guest Post: Reflections on the first application of the “dominant and effective nationality” test in international investment arbitration

This is a guest post from Gabriela Sánchez of the Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá Last September 3rd, the Permanent Court of Arbitration issued the Final Award on the case Michael Ballantine and Lisa Ballantine v. Dominican Republic. The case was governed under UNCITRAL (2010) arbitral rules and under the
Simon Lester 16 Sep 2019 3 min read

My Quick Take on the Trade Talk In Last Night's Democratic Debate

The Democratic debates have (thankfully!) been narrowed from 20 to 10 candidates. Many of them had a chance to weigh in on trade policy at the debate last night. Here's what they said: STEPHANOPOULOS: Welcome back. We want to turn now to national security and the foreign policy
Simon Lester 13 Sep 2019 10 min read

The Appellate Body and the Role of Precedent

One of the issues raised by the United States in its critique of the Appellate Body is the role of precedent. How much weight should be given to past cases? Is the Appellate Body being too deferential to its prior rulings? Is there a difference between the "cogent reasons&
Simon Lester 12 Sep 2019 1 min read

US-China Tariff War: A Lesson about WTO Law

The US first written submission in the Section 301 case (DS543) is an eye-opening read. To me, the ingenious arguments advanced by the USTR, no matter how far-fetched they may seem in places, raise some interesting questions and teach a valuable lesson about WTO law. I. A brief
Julia Qin 11 Sep 2019 5 min read

Two Points About Dani Rodrik's Latest Piece

Dani Rodrik has a new paper up at NBER, entitled "Putting Global Governance In Its Place." Two things jumped out at me. First, it surprised me that in discussing when regulatory standards are protectionist, he seems unaware of the national treatment principle: Unlike in the case of tariffs
Simon Lester 09 Sep 2019 2 min read

Call for Entries: RMLNLU-CTIL Conference on International Trade Law

This is from the Journal Committee at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National University, Lucknow, in collaboration with Centre for Trade and Investment Law, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade: The Journal Committee at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National University, Lucknow, in collaboration with Centre for Trade and Investment Law, Indian Institute
Inu Manak 09 Sep 2019 1 min read

Guest Post: Energy Policy in EU Free Trade Agreements

This is a guest post from Anna Marhold, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Public Law and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies at Leiden University, based on her article, "Externalising Europe’s energy policy in EU Free Trade Agreements: A cognitive dissonance between promoting sustainable development and
Inu Manak 06 Sep 2019 2 min read

The U.S. Defense in the Section 301 Case (DS543)

USTR has posted its first written submission in the DS543 case, which is China's complaint against the U.S. Section 301 measures. Among other things, there is a GATT Article XX(a) public morals argument. I'll let readers be the judge of all this. I wanted
Simon Lester 02 Sep 2019 2 min read

Guest Post: The national security exception in light of US – Certain Measures on Steel and Aluminum Products

This is a guest post from Csongor István Nagy, professor of law, University of Szeged and HAS-Szeged Federal Markets “Momentum” Research Group In this post, I demonstrate three points. First, at the present stage of development the security exception is only slightly judicialized. Second, acts adopted under this exception
Inu Manak 02 Sep 2019 6 min read

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Does The EU Need Its Own Section 301 To Counter China's Distortions?

Recently, economists Sander Tordoir and Brad Setser suggested that the EU may need its own version of Section 301 in order to "confront China’s systemic distortions beyond piecemeal trade defence."
17 Jun 2026 7 min read

The Section 301 Forced Labor Import Ban Report

On June 2, 2026, USTR released its report on its Section 301 investigation into acts, policies, and practices of various economies related to the failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.
04 Jun 2026 11 min read

What To Expect from the USMCA Review?

The USMCA review is almost upon us. How exactly things will proceed is a bit unclear, as we've never done this sort of thing before, but July 1 is the six year anniversary of the USMCA's entry into force.
03 Jun 2026 15 min read

China in the World Trading System: A Response to Chad, and Some Comments on Froman-Greer

I'm going to use this post to (1) respond to Chad and (2) comment on an exchange between current U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer and former U.S. Trade Rep. Mike Froman at a recent CFR event.
01 Jun 2026 7 min read

My Response To Simon on China in the World Trading System

Here are two quick reactions to the super important question of what explains why countries did not use WTO dispute settlement to push China to change.
28 May 2026 2 min read

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