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Rationality, Necessity, Proportionality, and Non-Discrimination

I enjoyed this recent JIEL article by Emily Lydgate, called "Is it Rational and Consistent? The Wto’s Surprising Role in Shaping Domestic Public Policy." Here is the abstract: What makes regulation rational? And why is rationality important to an international tribunal? In the World Trade Organization (WTO)
Simon Lester 16 Jan 2018 3 min read

The ITC Tie Vote Provision

Here's a comment we wrote in our Dispute Settlement Commentary for the DS491 panel report right at the end of last year: U.S. ITC Tie Vote under WTO Law Normally, there are six commissioners who serve on the U.S. International Trade Commission at a given time.
Simon Lester 11 Jan 2018 3 min read

All WTO disputes lead to China

Yesterday, Canada launched the first WTO dispute of the year to mark the start of the auspicious year of 2018. The respondent in the dispute - the US - was apparently not very amused and called the request for consultations "a broad and ill-advised attack on the U.S.
Henry Gao 11 Jan 2018 1 min read

Ken Vandevelde on Regulatory Autonomy and Investment Treaties

Ken Vandevelde is one of the preeminent scholars on investment treaties. He has a new short paper entitled "IIA provisions, properly interpreted, are fully consistent with a robust regulatory state" here.  In the paper, he makes a couple points that I want to address. First, he talks about
Simon Lester 09 Jan 2018 4 min read

How Does Iceland Choose Investment Treaty Partners?

After a recent trip to Iceland -- great scenery and delicious food! -- I wanted to learn more about the country, so naturally I looked up Iceland's most recent WTO Trade Policy Review and skimmed through the Secretariat report.* I was intrigued by this sentence: 2.39. Iceland&
Simon Lester 08 Jan 2018 1 min read

The ITC's Treatment of Unforeseen Developments in the Photovoltaic Cells Case

I'm puzzling over certain aspects of the consideration of "unforeseen developments" in the Photovoltaic Cells Section 201 case. Here's a brief rundown of the issue. On November 13, 2017, the ITC sent to the President its report in the case. I had been wondering
Simon Lester 05 Jan 2018 5 min read

Are Section 301 Tariffs Coming Soon?

I am hearing some talk that the ongoing Section 301 investigation related to certain Chinese government practices will result in President Trump imposing tariffs against Chinese imports. This is from Axios: It's quite likely Trump will use 301 authority — in January, we're told — to put tariffs
Simon Lester 02 Jan 2018 2 min read

China Inc. in the WTO Dock: Tales from a System under Fire

Paul Blustein, the author of "Misadventures of the Most Favored Nations", comes back with another tale of "Misadventures of the Most Powerful Nations". It provides not only important insights on some of the most important systemic issues facing the WTO, but also a peek into the
Henry Gao 21 Dec 2017 1 min read

What Exactly Was Promised on the NME Methodology?

Thanks to Henry for pointing us to China's opening statement at the European Union – Measures Related to Price Comparison Methodologies (DS516) panel meeting. Following up on the discussion in the comments on Henry's post, China is clearly taking this dispute very seriously, and says the following
Simon Lester 20 Dec 2017 3 min read

Multiple Permissible Interpretations in the DS516 Case

This is from the EU's first written submission in the European Union — Measures Related to Price Comparison Methodologies (DS516) case (footnotes omitted): 8. STANDARD OF REVIEW: PERMISSIBLE INTERPRETATION 275. The European Union submits that the special standard of review in Article 17(6)(ii) of the Anti-Dumping Agreement
Simon Lester 18 Dec 2017 2 min read

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International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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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

The Section 301 Surge Is Upon Us: Investigating Excess Capacity and Production

The first of a large batch of expected Section 301 investigations has arrived, as USTR announced yesterday that it was initiating investigations on acts, policies, and practices of various countries/economies "relating to structural excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors."
12 Mar 2026 3 min read

Debunking the "Hyperglobalization" Trade Policy Myth

Policy is often shaped by narratives, and recently there has been a bipartisan effort to create a narrative that, starting in the early 1990s, globalization and free trade went too far.
03 Mar 2026 8 min read

Guest Post: Are President Trump’s New Section 122 Tariffs Legal?

This is a guest post from Bryan Riley and Joe Bishop-Henchman. Bryan is Director of the Free Trade Initiative at the National Taxpayers Union; Joe is Executive Vice President at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation President Trump has issued new 10% tariffs, shortly after raised to 15%, based on Section
24 Feb 2026 6 min read

Section 122 as a (Partial) Replacement for the IEEPA Tariffs

Apparently, this is the era of dusting off old international economic policy statutes and figuring out what they mean and how they work. After the Supreme Court's ruling today in Learning Resources, holding that "IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs," we are now
20 Feb 2026 5 min read

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