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Is the US Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement a First Salvo against the Special and Differential Treatment?

In its speech relating to the decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, President Trump emphasized that “I cannot in good conscience support a deal that punishes the United States...the world’s leader in environmental protection, while imposing no meaningful obligations on the world’s leading polluters”. While
Marc Benitah 07 Jun 2017 2 min read

What if the U.S. Complies with the Paris Accord Obligations?

This is from law prof Eric Posner: I’m told by someone who knows about these things that the Obama-era climate actions, combined with ongoing shifts in the U.S. energy sector, will ensure that the U.S. will reach its announced (voluntary) target under the Paris agreement, or nearly
Simon Lester 04 Jun 2017 1 min read

Weapons of Mass Trade Destruction Are Proliferating

A couple weeks ago, I suggested that it was possible the Trump administration had already made up its mind on the Section 232 investigations, and would almost certainly find that steel and aluminum imports have impaired national security, giving the President the authority to impose trade restrictions in response (the
Simon Lester 02 Jun 2017 1 min read

More on Secretary Ross on MFN

Last month, I blogged about a press conference by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, in which, among other things, he seemed to criticize the MFN clause as a barrier to trade liberalization. I explained (briefly) there why I thought this criticism was misguided. Chad Bown and Alan Sykes subsequently wrote a
Simon Lester 30 May 2017 3 min read

Trade Language Battles

This is from Inside US Trade: U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, at his first public appearance here during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers meeting, said the U.S. defending its own market against unfair trade practices should not be confused with protectionism -- the definition of which, he
Simon Lester 24 May 2017 2 min read

Politics and Law of the Border Adjustment Tax

You may have thought the much discussed U.S. border adjustment tax proposal was dead, as not much has been said about it recently, but the Washington Post reports on a Congressional hearing yesterday: Much of corporate America is in agreement that it would like to see a sweeping overhaul
Simon Lester 24 May 2017 1 min read

A Turning of the Tide against ISDS?

The Court of Justice for the European Union fired a significant shot at investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) this week, and the result is likely to be much more than just a flesh wound. In deciding that the European Union did not have exclusive competence to enter into agreements including ISDS
Anthea Roberts 19 May 2017 8 min read

Conference: Brexit, China, and Other New Challenges to International Trade Law

This announcement is from Ming Du at the Centre for Chinese Law & Social - Legal Studies of Surrey University: On 31st May 2017, the Centre for Chinese Law & Social - Legal Studies of Surrey University, together with the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, will hold an
Simon Lester 15 May 2017 1 min read

U.S.-China Trade Peace Has Broken Out

Instead of the U.S. - China trade war that may have seemed like it was coming, we are seeing positive U.S. - China trade relations so far.  The Trump administration and China recently worked out a deal on a few small trade issues.  Here are two items to
Simon Lester 14 May 2017 1 min read

Clarity on Trump's Trade Policy

This is from an Economist interview with Donald Trump: It sounds like you’re imagining a pretty big renegotiation of NAFTA. What would a fair NAFTA look like? Big isn’t a good enough word. Massive. Huge? It’s got to be. It’s got to be. What would it
Simon Lester 11 May 2017 2 min read

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International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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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