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How are Foreign and Domestic Firms Treated by Governments?

This is from a new paper by Emma Aisbett and Lauge Poulsen, called "Relative Treatment of Aliens: Firm-level Evidence from Developing Countries": Foreign firms are subject to a wide range of political risks when operating in developing countries that lack strong property rights institutions. Important insights about
Simon Lester 05 Jan 2017 2 min read

Global Trade Watch on the Lighthizer Nomination

From the Global Trade Watch blog: The nomination of Robert Lighthizer to be U.S. Trade Representative signals President-elect Donald Trump’s interest in altering the trade policy approach that has prevailed through Republican and Democratic administrations for the past two decades. Lighthizer has consistently noted that historically Republicans
Simon Lester 05 Jan 2017 1 min read

Is "Mercantilist" a Pejorative Adjective? And What Does It Mean Exactly?

As pointed out by Simon, Robert Lighthizer is probably the next U.S. Trade Representative. In this regard, it is interesting to note that Lighthizer told a congressional panel in 2010 that the WTO's dispute resolution system was ineffective and that the United States “should consider aggressive interpretations
Marc Benitah 03 Jan 2017 2 min read

Robert Lighthizer as U.S. Trade Rep

From the WSJ: Donald Trump is expected to name Robert Lighthizer, a former trade official under President Ronald Reagan, to head the U.S. Trade Representative office, the first in a final push of appointments anticipated this week as Mr. Trump fills the remaining senior government vacancies in the run-
Simon Lester 02 Jan 2017 1 min read

Prospects for a NZ-US FTA

I'm not a fan of letting foreign policy influence trade policy (which is one of the reasons I prefer multilateral trade liberalization to bilateral or regional trade deals, which are particularly susceptible), but there is no question that it sometimes does. In this regard, I often come across
Simon Lester 02 Jan 2017 1 min read

Call for Papers: Annual WTO Law Conference 2017

The Graduate Institute’s Centre for Trade and Economic Integration and Georgetown University’s Institute of International Economic Law are proud to present a call for papers for the Annual Conference on WTO Law, to be held in Geneva from June 9-10, 2017. For details, please see the announcement
Inu Manak 22 Dec 2016 1 min read

The Hormones Dispute May Be Back On

From a USTR press release today: The Obama Administration announced today that the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is taking action against the European Union’s (EU) unfair trade practices that discriminate against U.S. beef imports.  Acting on the request of the U.S. beef industry,
Simon Lester 22 Dec 2016 2 min read

SIEL/JIEL/OUP Essay Prize Competition

This from SIEL/JIEL/OUP: The deadline for entering the 2016-2017 SIEL/JIEL/OUP Essay Prize competition is fast approaching, and authors meeting the stated conditions are warmly encouraged to send their submission by 15 JANUARY 2017. For further details: http://www.sielnet.org/essayprize
Inu Manak 21 Dec 2016 1 min read

US Presidential Power To Undermine Trade Agreements

Last week, Joel had a post entitled "US Presidential Power to Terminate Trade Agreements," in which he discussed the difficulties that a U.S. President would have in ending U.S. participation in existing trade agreements, without Congressional consent. His post may have been reassuring to some people
Simon Lester 21 Dec 2016 3 min read

Do GATT Article II:2(a) and Article III Allow Tax Adjustments for Value Added Taxes?

In light of all of the recent talk about the U.S. adopting a VAT-ish tax reform, I thought it was worth revisiting a fundamental question. Everyone seems to be operating under the assumption that a VAT is covered by GATT Article II:2(a) and Article III, and
Simon Lester 19 Dec 2016 7 min read

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International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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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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