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. trade

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

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's

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

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

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

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

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

This is from the Washington Post: Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden words at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing.

There are no WTO definitions of “developed” and “developing” countries. Members announce for themselves (the so-called “self-election” principle) whether they are “developed” or “developing” countries. This is considered as a consequence of the  principle of sovereignty which includes the right of states to proclaim that they are developing