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Todd Tucker on the DS510 Panel Ruling

Todd Tucker of the Roosevelt Institute is not happy with yesterday's WTO panel ruling against various U.S. states' local content requirements in the renewable energy sector. I responded on the Cato blog here, but I want to add a bit more in response to some of
Simon Lester 28 Jun 2019 2 min read

The Democratic Candidates Debate Trade (A Tiny Bit)

In the debate on Wednesday involving 10 of the 20 Democratic candidates, trade barely came up. Given how much activity, shall we say, there has been on trade under the Trump administration, that was a bit of a surprise. Last night, though, in the debate involving the other 10 candidates,
Simon Lester 28 Jun 2019 3 min read

Guest Post: The Impending Demise of the WTO Appellate Body: From Centrepiece to Historical Relic?

This is a guest post from Markus Wagner of the University of Wollongong: It is very unlikely that the ongoing G-20 summit will resolve the political dispute between China and the US over their bilateral trade relationship and the dispute over the future direction of the international trading system. But
Simon Lester 27 Jun 2019 2 min read

The Origins of the "Cogent Reasons" Approach to the Precedential Value of Appellate Body Reports

The United States has made it clear that it objects to the Appellate Body's view that a panel must follow a prior Appellate Body interpretation unless the panel has “cogent reasons” for departing from that interpretation. One of the longer U.S. explanations of its position is here.
Simon Lester 24 Jun 2019 14 min read

NAFTA vs. USMCA vs. Something Else

Here is a comment from Ambassador Lighthizer in response to a question from Congressman Panetta at last week's House Ways and Means Committee hearing (starts at 3:23:09), on the choice between NAFTA or USMCA: I think we have clearly made an enormous, probably enormous, improvement in
Simon Lester 24 Jun 2019 1 min read

China NME case suspended

Since no one else has raised it yet on this blog, I'll note that the WTO Panel hearing China's case against the EU regarding the use of a non-market economy methodology in anti-dumping cases suspended its work on 14 June (DS516/13). Such suspensions come at
Jesse Kreier 20 Jun 2019 1 min read

Congress Asks Lighthizer About the Sunset Clause

I have been suggesting that Congress should clarify its role in the decision required under the USMCA's sunset clause on whether to extend the agreement, and Congressman Steven Horsford came through for me at yesterday's House Ways and Means Committee hearing (starts at 3:37:50)
Simon Lester 20 Jun 2019 2 min read

USTR Lighthizer Comments on NAFTA/USMCA State-State DS Panel Blocking

This is from an exchange between Senator Carper and U.S. Trade Representative Lighthizer at a Senate Finance Committee hearing today (starts at 2:03:07): Senator Carper: “My second question revolves around USMCA dispute settlement. The state-to-state dispute settlement system in the new NAFTA continues to allow for panel
Simon Lester 18 Jun 2019 5 min read

Call for Proposals: International Economic Law And Security Interests Conference

From the Amsterdam Center for International Law and the International Economic Law Interest Group of the European Society of International Law: Call for Proposals – International Economic Law and Security Interests – ACIL-ESIL Amsterdam Conference On 14-15 November 2019, the Amsterdam Center for International Law and the International Economic Law Interest Group
Simon Lester 17 Jun 2019 1 min read

India, safeguards and developing Member status

These days, when issues of justiciability or unilateralism arise, the security exception in Article XXI of GATT 1994 comes immediately to mind. However, these issues can arise in very different contexts, such as safeguards. The Agreement on Safeguards exempts small suppliers of a product from developing Members from safeguard measures,
Jesse Kreier 16 Jun 2019 1 min read

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Is There No Going Back on Trade? What Is the Path Forward? A Response to Lighthizer

Former U.S. Trade Rep. Bob Lighthizer has a new essay in Foreign Affairs, and I have some thoughts. I'm going to start with his brief big picture points on the direction of U.S. trade policy, and then go through a couple of the specific concepts he emphasizes.
27 Apr 2026 6 min read

The Section 301 Excess Capacity Investigation Needs Less Madness, More Method

Shortly after the Supreme Court ruled President Trump’s emergency tariffs under IEEPA  unconstitutional, the administration scrambled to rebuild its tariff wall. While the announcement of Section 122 tariffs immediately following the ruling will provide a temporary patch, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office quickly began to utilize another
24 Apr 2026 6 min read

War Tariffs

This is a co-authored post by Kathleen Claussen and Tim Meyer. Last week, President Trump announced that the United States would be imposing new tariffs of 50 percent of the value of any product coming from any country that sells weapons or provides military aid to Iran. Some commentators questioned
14 Apr 2026 5 min read

USMCA Review and Extension Predictions

When the idea of an expiration clause was suggested during the NAFTA renegotiation, I was against it from the start, and Inu and I wrote a pretty critical piece about it at the time. A review is great, we said, let's definitely have reviews, and there are plenty of ways to do that.
08 Apr 2026 5 min read

The Section 301 Surge Continues: Investigating the Adoption/Enforcement/Administration of Forced Labor Import Bans

This Section 301 investigation intends to pressure all sixty named trade partners (even, inexplicably, including Canada and Mexico) to adopt similar enforcement procedures. This announcement is highly problematic for the four reasons I address below.
16 Mar 2026 4 min read

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