International Economic Law and Policy Blog
  • Home
  • About
  • WorldTradeLaw.net
Sign in Subscribe

Is Section 232 Unconstitutional?

This is from a recently filed compaint at the U.S. Court of International Trade: Plaintiffs American Institute for International Steel, Inc. (“AIIS”), Sim-Tex LP (“Sim-Tex”), and Kurt Orban Partners, LLC (“Orban”), by and through their attorneys, hereby submit their complaint in this action seeking a declaratory judgment that section
Simon Lester 27 Jun 2018 1 min read

The Timing of Appellate Body Report Circulation

At the last DSB meeting, the U.S. offered a detailed criticism of the Appellate Body's recent practice of taking longer than 90 days to circulate its reports. It's too long to quote the whole thing, but here is a part of it: 5. STATEMENT BY
Simon Lester 27 Jun 2018 3 min read

The Second Canada Agreement on Internal Trade Appellate Report

A couple years ago, I blogged about the first appellate decision under Canada's Agreement on Internal Trade, which was on dairy products. The second decision has just been circulated, this time on beer. (The Canadian Free Trade Agreement recently replaced the AIT, so aside from any ongoing AIT
Simon Lester 22 Jun 2018 2 min read

Non-Violation Claims in the Steel/Aluminum WTO Complaints

Here are all six WTO consultations requests filed so far against the U.S. Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum products: U.S. - Measures on Steel and Aluminium (DS552) June 12, 2018 Norway U.S. - Measures on Steel and Aluminium (DS551) June 5, 2018 Mexico U.S.
Simon Lester 20 Jun 2018 1 min read

Tariff Threats as a Negotiating Tactic

Josh Barro describes Trump's approach to negotiations as follows: Donald Trump has a negotiating tactic he really likes: Threaten to do something someone else will really hate, and then offer to stop if they give you what you want. ... One of his tactics on trade, for example, is
Simon Lester 17 Jun 2018 4 min read

The Use of Object and Purpose by Trade and Investment Adjudicators

This is from Graham Cook: For those interested in matters of treaty interpretation and legal reasoning, here is a new paper on "The Use of Object and Purpose by Trade and Investment Adjudicators: Convergence without Interaction". It analogizes the practice of WTO and ISDS tribunals to the story
Simon Lester 15 Jun 2018 1 min read

Investment Arbitrators Weigh In on GATT Article XXI

This is from the 2016 Devas v. India Award (some footnotes omitted): 219. Indeed, it is well established by judgments of the International Court of Justice (the “ICJ”) and investment arbitration awards that, unless a treaty contains specific wording granting full discretion to the State to determine what it considers
Simon Lester 12 Jun 2018 1 min read

The G7 Countries Should Accept Trump's Proposal to Negotiate Total Free Trade

This is from Trump's press conference at the G7 yesterday: Q Mr. President, you said that this was a positive meeting, but from the outside, it seemed quite contentious. Did you get any indication from your interlocutors that they were going to make any concessions to you? And
Simon Lester 10 Jun 2018 3 min read

Trump on the NAFTA Sunset Clause

This is from Trump's press conference at the G7 meeting: Q Are you close to a deal on NAFTA? Your Press Secretary said (inaudible). THE PRESIDENT: So two things can happen on NAFTA. We’ll either leave it the way it is, as a threesome deal with Canada
Simon Lester 10 Jun 2018 2 min read

Comments by Steve Charnovitz on 232 Autos Investigation Filed 8 June 2018

Comments by Steve Charnovitz on US Department of Commerce Section 232 Investigation of Automobiles, DOC-2018-0002 June 8, 2018 As I noted in my April 26, 2017 comments on the 232 Steel investigation, “the idea that imports of goods, services, or capital could undermine national security is farfetched”[1] My observation
Charnovitz 08 Jun 2018 3 min read

About

International Economic Law and Policy Blog

International Economic Law and Policy Blog

Expert commentary on the law, politics and economics of international trade and investment

Sign up for email notifications

jamie@example.com
Subscribe

Featured

Can "Geopolitical" Tariffs Be Dealt With through Trade Deals?

Last Friday, U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer was asked about Trump's initial suggestion of tariffs related to the goal of taking over Greenland
20 Jan 2026 4 min read

Is Foreign Antitrust Enforcement "Discriminatory" and "Anti-American"?

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust held a hearing in December on "Anti-American Antitrust: How Foreign Governments Target U.S. Businesses." There was a lot of talk at the hearing about how foreign regulations and regulators "discriminate" against American companies.
05 Jan 2026 5 min read

Pennsylvania Court Finds Mexican Government Guilty of "Discrimination" Due To Its Subsidies

I'm always interested in how courts apply the concept of "discrimination" in the context of international trade, so I've been eagerly awaiting a Pennsylvania court decision in a case against Mexico.
12 Dec 2025 8 min read

Economic Security in Trade Agreements: My Response to Geoff Gertz

Thanks to Geoff for laying out his vision of why economic security should be in trade agreements and how to bring it in. It won't surprise anyone to hear I have some additional comments and questions in response!
04 Dec 2025 10 min read

Guest Post: The Case for Bringing Economic Security Priorities into U.S. Trade Agreements, Part II

This is a guest post from Geoffrey Gertz of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), responding to my post on Economic and National Security Provisions in U.S. Trade Agreements An earlier post made the case for why the United States should bring economic security commitments into trade
01 Dec 2025 3 min read

Topics

2008 Presidential Election

25 posts

2012 Republican Primary

6 posts

2020 Democratic Primary

22 posts

2020 Presidential Campaign

6 posts

2024 Presidential Campaign

9 posts

2024 Republican Primary

9 posts

Announcements

25 posts

Appellate Body

72 posts

CAFTA

5 posts

CETA

8 posts

Currency Disputes

57 posts

Development

23 posts

Digital Trade

55 posts

Domestic Trade Powers

10 posts

Dormant Commerce Clause

3 posts

DSU 25 Interim Appeals

43 posts

DSU Article 11

13 posts

Economic Integration

8 posts

Economic Statecraft

8 posts

EU-UK Trade Negotiation

5 posts

Exceptions

19 posts

Exchange Rates

5 posts

Export Restrictions

13 posts

Food Aid

5 posts

Foreign Investment

21 posts

FTA Negotiations

12 posts

FTAs - General

21 posts

Gambling Dispute

52 posts

Global Governance

9 posts

Globalization

13 posts

Government Procurement

5 posts

Green Steel Deal

14 posts

IEEPA

8 posts

IEL in Domestic Courts

20 posts

Indo-Pacific Economic Framework

5 posts

Industrial Policy

19 posts

Investor-State Arbitration

93 posts

Jamieson Greer

14 posts

Katherine Tai

66 posts

NAFTA

18 posts

NAFTA Chapter 11

15 posts

NAFTA Chapter 19

5 posts

National Security

37 posts

Non Appeal Pact

3 posts

Non-Discrimination Standards

59 posts

Non-Market Economies

5 posts

Non-Violation Nullification or Impairment

16 posts

Precedent

25 posts

Public Views of Trade

9 posts

Rare Earths

1 post

Robert Lighthizer

17 posts

Russia Trade Sanctions

17 posts

Sanctions

15 posts

Sovereignty

9 posts

Speech

1 post

SPS/TBT

5 posts

Standards of Review

7 posts

State Enterprises

7 posts

Sub-National Trade Issues

5 posts

Subsidies

83 posts

Tariffs

2 posts

Terms of Trade Manipulation

6 posts

Trade Agreements

16 posts

Trade and Competition

14 posts

Trade and Development

19 posts

Trade and Environment

117 posts

Trade and Health

20 posts

Trade and Human Rights

8 posts

Trade and Income Inequality

1 post

Trade and Intellectual Property

25 posts

Trade and Labor

23 posts

Trade and Peace

4 posts

Trade and Security

31 posts

Trade and the Stock Market

2 posts

Trade Balance

9 posts

Trade in Everything

65 posts

Trade in Services

21 posts

Trade Law and International Law

9 posts

Trade Preferences/GSP

23 posts

Trade Remedies

62 posts

Trans Pacific Partnership

8 posts

Trump Administration

44 posts

U.S. Trade Policy

29 posts

U.S. Trade Politics

58 posts

US-China Trade Relations

26 posts

USMCA

18 posts

USMCA Dispute Settlement

33 posts

USMCA Sunset/Review Clause

18 posts

USTR

15 posts

WTO - General

18 posts

WTO Accessions

8 posts

WTO Disputes

175 posts

WTO DS Reform

12 posts

WTO Jurisprudence

28 posts

WTO Negotiations

30 posts

Zeroing

29 posts
Powered by Ghost