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UNCITRAL and ISDS Reforms: Concerns about Consistency, Predictability and Correctness

As explained in a previous post, we have put together four posts that compile the most relevant quotes from the first two meetings of the UNCITRAL Working Group sessions on states’ concerns about investor-state dispute settlement. To facilitate discussions about the desirability of reforms and their potential nature, we
Anthea Roberts 05 Jun 2018 24 min read

UNCITRAL and ISDS Reforms: What are States’ Concerns?

What are states’ concerns about investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS)? To help answer that question, we have put together four posts that compile the most relevant quotes from the first two meetings of the UNCITRAL Working Group sessions. To facilitate discussions about the desirability of reforms and their potential nature,
Anthea Roberts 05 Jun 2018 21 min read

Incremental, Systemic, and Paradigmatic Reform of Investor-State Arbitration

Want to understand the UNCITRAL debates about ISDS reform? I’ve put the draft of my new AJIL essay on “Incremental, Systemic, and Paradigmatic Reform of Investor-State Arbitration” up on SSRN. This essay complements a great forthcoming AJIL article by Greg Shaffer & Sergio Puig on “Imperfect Alternatives: Institutional
Anthea Roberts 04 Jun 2018 2 min read

"Advisory Opinions" in WTO Panel/AB Reports

This is from the U.S. statement at the DSB meeting on Monday (footnotes omitted): 10. EUROPEAN UNION – COUNTERVAILING MEASURES ON CERTAIN POLETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE FROM PAKISTAN A. REPORT OF THE APPELLATE BODY (WT/DS486/AB/R AND WT/DS486/AB/R/ADD.1) AND REPORT OF THE PANEL (WT/DS486/
Simon Lester 04 Jun 2018 4 min read

Memo to the Trump Administration: The Sunset Clause is a Lost Cause

Here's a tweet from Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star: Trudeau says he wanted to meet with Trump to resolve NAFTA, but Pence told him that he couldn't meet with Trump unless Canada accepted an auto-termination "sunset clause" in the deal. He said
Simon Lester 31 May 2018 1 min read

Farewell Speech of Appellate Body Member Ricardo Ramírez-Hernández

You can read the full farewell speech by Appellate Body Member Ricardo Ramírez-Hernández here. There's a lot of good stuff in it. This is an excerpt, with some comments from me thrown in here and there: Now I'm going to share with you some thoughts
Simon Lester 30 May 2018 9 min read

Tony Blair on "What do to about Brexit?"

Here is something Tony Blair said on Fareed Zakaria's TV show last week-end: ZAKARIA: What do do about Brexit? BLAIR: Well, I would still like to see it changed. I mean, I think that the truth is there is no answer to the fundamental dilemma. So in
Simon Lester 30 May 2018 2 min read

Will the U.S. - China Trade Deal Violate MFN?

This is from the FT: Washington is pressing Beijing to enter into multiyear contracts to buy US agricultural and energy imports as part of a broader trade deal aimed at reducing the $337bn bilateral trade deficit with China. But the move could mean taking Chinese business away from key US
Simon Lester 27 May 2018 2 min read

The EU General Data Protection Regulation

The GDPR is coming into force soon and I'm trying to sort out the consequences in general and for this blog in particular. With regard to this blog, over 2,000 people have signed up for email notifications, and presumably some of those people are from an EU
Simon Lester 24 May 2018 1 min read

EU – PET (Pakistan): The Appellate Body confirms the validity of the traditional "break the causal link" approach

In a previous post, I indicated that Pakistan lodged an appeal  regarding the "break the causal link" approach adopted by the European Commission in  EU – PET (Pakistan).   In this case, the EU Commission began, as usual, its causation analysis by considering first  that a causal link existed between
Marc Benitah 24 May 2018 1 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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