International Economic Law and Policy Blog
  • Home
  • About
  • WorldTradeLaw.net
Sign in Subscribe

The GOP's Response to the VAT

I've had a few questions from friends and reporters asking what I thought of the GOP tax plan set out here.  This is a key excerpt from the plan: Today, all of our major trading partners raise a significant portion of their tax revenues through value-added taxes
Simon Lester 09 Dec 2016 6 min read

Welcome to Inu Manak

I wanted to welcome Inu Manak as a contributor to this blog. Inu was our research assistant at Cato's trade policy center, and she has been my co-author on several journal articles and op-eds. She is now a PhD student in poli sci at Georgetown (studying
Simon Lester 09 Dec 2016 1 min read

Talking About Brexit

Like most people, I didn't expect the UK voters to support Brexit. I figured this vote would be like all the other secession votes that come along, with a rejection at the end.  But with the vote going the way it did, whatever you think of the idea
Simon Lester 08 Dec 2016 1 min read

The Vattenfall Investment Arbitration

This is from the Financial Times: Germany’s highest court has ruled that the country’s utilities should be compensated for the government’s decision in the wake of the Fukushima disaster to shut down all Germany’s nuclear reactors. The decision by the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe is a
Simon Lester 07 Dec 2016 1 min read

The WTO Plain Packaging Panel Report

The WTO panel in the plain packaging case tells us that the report will be circulated to the parties "not before" May 2017.  So what does that mean for those of us who are not parties, but rather mere members of the public?  For some indication, but not
Simon Lester 07 Dec 2016 1 min read

Security Exceptions in International Investment Agreements

This is from the latest Columbia FDI Perspectives: A network of bilateral treaties and other international investment agreements (IIAs) has constructed a predictable and enforceable international investment regime. Since 1992, however, the protections offered by this regime have potentially been limited by the inclusion in IIAs of self-judging essential
Simon Lester 07 Dec 2016 1 min read

A Tax on Outsourcing

This is the latest from Donald Trump: The U.S. is going to substantialy reduce taxes and regulations on businesses, but any business that leaves our country for another country, fires its employees, builds a new factory or plant in the other country, and then thinks it will sell its
Simon Lester 05 Dec 2016 1 min read

Can All the Global Governance Regimes Get Along?

What will happen if some global governance regimes try to assert their authority over other regimes?  This is from a paper by Lukasz Gruszczynski: The current language of the [Framework Convention on Tobacco Control] does not provide any exclusion clause that would prevent the recourse to other international dispute settlement
Simon Lester 05 Dec 2016 1 min read

Call for Papers: 2017 ILA-ASIL Asia-Pacific Research Forum, Taipei, Taiwan

This is from Pasha Hsieh: Call for Papers: 2017 ILA-ASIL Asia-Pacific Research Forum, Taipei, Taiwan The Chinese (Taiwan) Society of International Law will hold the ILA-ASIL Asia-Pacific Research Forum on May 19-20, 2017 in Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. The theme of the Research Forum is "
Simon Lester 05 Dec 2016 1 min read

Trebilcock and Daniels on Trade Adjustment Assistance

An important proposal here.
Trachtman 03 Dec 2016 1 min read

About

International Economic Law and Policy Blog

International Economic Law and Policy Blog

Expert commentary on the law, politics and economics of international trade and investment

Sign up for email notifications

jamie@example.com
Subscribe

Featured

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

Topics

2008 Presidential Election

25 posts

2012 Republican Primary

6 posts

2020 Democratic Primary

22 posts

2020 Presidential Campaign

6 posts

2024 Presidential Campaign

9 posts

2024 Republican Primary

9 posts

Announcements

27 posts

Appellate Body

72 posts

CAFTA

5 posts

CETA

8 posts

Currency Disputes

58 posts

Development

23 posts

Digital Trade

59 posts

Domestic Trade Powers

10 posts

Dormant Commerce Clause

3 posts

DSU 25 Interim Appeals

43 posts

DSU Article 11

13 posts

Economic Integration

8 posts

Economic Statecraft

10 posts

EU-UK Trade Negotiation

5 posts

Exceptions

19 posts

Exchange Rates

6 posts

Export Restrictions

13 posts

Food Aid

5 posts

Foreign Investment

21 posts

FTA Negotiations

13 posts

FTAs - General

22 posts

Gambling Dispute

52 posts

Global Governance

9 posts

Globalization

13 posts

Government Procurement

5 posts

Green Steel Deal

14 posts

IEEPA

9 posts

IEL in Domestic Courts

20 posts

Indo-Pacific Economic Framework

5 posts

Industrial Policy

20 posts

Investor-State Arbitration

93 posts

Jamieson Greer

19 posts

Katherine Tai

66 posts

NAFTA

19 posts

NAFTA Chapter 11

15 posts

NAFTA Chapter 19

5 posts

National Security

38 posts

Non Appeal Pact

3 posts

Non-Discrimination Standards

60 posts

Non-Market Economies

7 posts

Non-Violation Nullification or Impairment

19 posts

Precedent

25 posts

Public Views of Trade

9 posts

Rare Earths

1 post

Robert Lighthizer

18 posts

Russia Trade Sanctions

17 posts

Sanctions

15 posts

Section 301

14 posts

Sovereignty

9 posts

Speech

1 post

SPS/TBT

5 posts

Standards of Review

7 posts

State Enterprises

8 posts

Sub-National Trade Issues

5 posts

Subsidies

83 posts

Tariffs

3 posts

Terms of Trade Manipulation

6 posts

Trade Agreements

21 posts

Trade and Competition

14 posts

Trade and Development

21 posts

Trade and Environment

119 posts

Trade and Health

20 posts

Trade and Human Rights

9 posts

Trade and Income Inequality

1 post

Trade and Intellectual Property

26 posts

Trade and Labor

26 posts

Trade and Peace

4 posts

Trade and Security

35 posts

Trade and the Stock Market

2 posts

Trade Balance

13 posts

Trade in Everything

65 posts

Trade in Services

21 posts

Trade Law and International Law

10 posts

Trade Preferences/GSP

23 posts

Trade Remedies

64 posts

Trans Pacific Partnership

9 posts

Trump Administration

55 posts

U.S. Trade Policy

32 posts

U.S. Trade Politics

60 posts

US-China Trade Relations

28 posts

USMCA

19 posts

USMCA Dispute Settlement

34 posts

USMCA Sunset/Review Clause

24 posts

USTR

16 posts

WTO - General

25 posts

WTO Accessions

8 posts

WTO Disputes

177 posts

WTO DS Reform

13 posts

WTO Jurisprudence

28 posts

WTO Negotiations

30 posts
Powered by Ghost