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Anti-Smoking Regulation in China

From the Economist: The state-owned China National Tobacco Corporation controls the production and sale of all tobacco in China. That the government profits from puffing perhaps explains why it has taken so few anti-smoking measures since China signed the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003. Packets carry
Simon Lester 13 Jul 2016 1 min read

Is the "China Sea" scenario legally or empirically impossible in the WTO context?

As we now know, a unanimous Award has just been issued by the Tribunal constituted under Annex VII to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in the arbitration instituted by the Philippines against China. China has repeatedly stated that “it will neither accept nor participate in
Marc Benitah 12 Jul 2016 1 min read

The Born Dissent

Gary Born's separate opinion in the Philip Morris v. Uruguay award (see Annex B) is referred to as a "concurring and dissenting opinion," but I'm going to focus on the dissent part. Read his whole opinion, of course, but a good summary comes early
Simon Lester 11 Jul 2016 2 min read

Uruguay Wins the ISDS Complaint Brought Against Its Tobacco Regulations

From the FT: Uruguay has won a landmark lawsuit against Philip Morris International, which was suing the South American country for its strict regulations on smoking in what was seen as a test case for the tobacco industry. The full decision can be found here. A good summary of the
Simon Lester 08 Jul 2016 2 min read

Will the TPP SPS Consultations Mechanism Speed Things Up or Slow Things Down?

This is from the USTR summary of the TPP SPS chapter: Cooperative Technical Consultations (CTC) To help encourage the early and expeditious resolution of SPS matters, the SPS chapter establishes a consultative mechanism under which relevant agencies will work to find science-based solutions to SPS issues that emerge between TPP
Simon Lester 07 Jul 2016 2 min read

World Trade Forum at EUI

This year's EUI/WTI/CEPR World Trade Forum is 23 - 24 September in Florence, focusing on behind-the-border policies and global trade: This year’s World Trade Forum – an annual event that is organised by the World Trade Institute (Bern), the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (European
Simon Lester 07 Jul 2016 1 min read

Job Opening: Assistant United States Trade Representative for Monitoring and Enforcement

This is the kind of job that doesn't open up very often, so if you are at all interested, take advantage of the opportunity: Assistant United States Trade Representative for Monitoring and Enforcement Manages and coordinates USTR legal and interagency legal resources in connection with U.S. representation
Simon Lester 05 Jul 2016 1 min read

CETA Approval Update

From the FT: Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, is preparing to ditch contentious plans to fast-track approval of a trade deal with Canada, in an eleventh-hour political retreat that followed staunch criticism from some European capitals. To the dismay of Germany and France, Mr Juncker had tried to speed
Simon Lester 05 Jul 2016 1 min read

The NHS Abroad

In the TTIP negotiations, some critics have gotten worked up about the potential impact on Britain's NHS (“We know that TTIP poses a real and serious threat to the NHS. The only way to neutralise that threat is for David Cameron to give a cast iron guarantee that
Simon Lester 04 Jul 2016 1 min read

More Gary Johnson on the TPP

Here is Libertarian Party Presidential candidate Gary Johnson on CNN yesterday, talking with Brianna Keilar: KEILAR: He -- Donald Trump gave a major speech this week on international trade. He issued a challenge to Hillary Clinton. This is what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Ask Hillary if she is
Simon Lester 04 Jul 2016 1 min read

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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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