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Beto O'Rourke on Trade Policy

In a new post, he has a lot to say! Here are some snippets: President Trump’s disastrous trade war, which he claims was designed to save American jobs, has done just the opposite. “If I’m elected,” President Trump told workers and businesses, “you won’t lose one plant.
Simon Lester 29 Aug 2019 4 min read

The USMCA Sunset Clause Will Not Help Much with Enforcement

A couple months ago, I pushed back on the idea that the USMCA sunset clause will help with enforcement. Now I see it popping up again. This is from Inside US Trade: ... [Tom] Vilsack also argued that the review function in the new agreement -- a watered-down version of a
Simon Lester 27 Aug 2019 2 min read

News Reports About the U.S.-Japan Trade Deal Raise Some Questions

This is from the Nikkei Asian Review: Japan and the U.S. reached a broad trade deal Saturday, with Tokyo agreeing to lower its tariffs on American beef and pork to levels set by the Trans-Pacific Partnership while letting Washington maintain its 2.5% levy on Japanese autos for
Simon Lester 25 Aug 2019 4 min read

Humpty Dumpty and the Illusion of 'Evolutionary Interpretation' in WTO Dispute Settlement

This is a new paper from Graham Cook of the WTO: For those interested, here is a new paper called "Humpty Dumpty and the Illusion of 'Evolutionary Interpretation' in WTO Dispute Settlement" included in Evolutionary Interpretation and International Law (which brings together authors from diverse areas
Simon Lester 23 Aug 2019 1 min read

Can Industrial Policy Be Kept Out of the Wrong Hands?

Todd Tucker has a new paper in which he argues in favor of "industrial policy and planning." I was planning to follow a policy of industriously ignoring it, because I didn't want to call attention to it. Better just not to talk about it, I thought.
Simon Lester 21 Aug 2019 3 min read

Can Party Modifications to DSU Rules on Appellate Review Help with the Appellate Body Crisis?

What is the scope of party modifications to the DSU for particular cases, and could it help with the Appellate Body appointment crisis? It may not be an ideal solution, but take a look at the following example and see if it could be applied to the Appellate Body crisis.
Simon Lester 18 Aug 2019 3 min read

What's the Status of Panel Blocking in the New NAFTA?

This is from Ambassador Lighthizer's responses to the questions for the record from a June 19 House Ways and Means Committee hearing: From Representative Bill Pascrell to Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer 1. Using Section 301 could invite retaliation. And Mexico and Canada agreed to fix panel-blocking in
Simon Lester 18 Aug 2019 1 min read

Tenure-Track Position in International Economic Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, Common Law Section

From the advertisement, hat tip to Debra Steger:  "The Common Law Section of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa invites applications for a tenure-track position as an Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor in International Economic Law commencing July 1, 2020. APPLICATION DEADLINE: September 30, 2019.
Trachtman 15 Aug 2019 1 min read

Collateral Damages of the Trade War

Two researchers from the Kiel Center for Globalization (Haiou Mao and Holger Görg) have just published a working paper entitled “Friends like This: The Impact of the US – China Trade War on Global Value Chains.”  Based on the notion of “cumulative and indirect tariffs” in global value chains (GVCs), the
Sungjoon Cho 12 Aug 2019 1 min read

Guest Post: Tariff Authority under the U.S. Constitution and Practice

This is a guest post from Bashar H. Malkawi, Professor of Law, University of Sharjah Under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, the Congress has the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations. In addition, Congress has the exclusive power to regulate commerce among the several states and
Simon Lester 10 Aug 2019 2 min read

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International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Featured

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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