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ELSA WTO Moot Court Competition Next Week

From ELSA: Press release Final Oral Round - ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO law Between 7 and 12 June 2016, the Final Oral Round of the ELSA Moot Court Competition will take place in Geneva, Switzerland. Over 150 active students, their team coaches, renowned academics and practitioners from all
Simon Lester 03 Jun 2016 1 min read

Former Appellate Body Members Weigh in on the Recent U.S. Actions Related to the Appellate Body

Here is the main text of a letter to the DSB chair from all the living, former Appellate Body Members: We write in the hope that we can be of some assistance to the Members of the World Trade Organization. As the thirteen living former Members of the WTO Appellate
Simon Lester 01 Jun 2016 4 min read

There's a New Party in Town

For those of you despairing about your choices in the U.S. Presidential election, you are in luck, there's now a credible third party option: The Libertarians. OK, you can stop laughing now, because this time they have a former two term governor as the Presidential nominee (Gary
Simon Lester 30 May 2016 1 min read

Why Prof. Chang II: A Few More Pieces of the Puzzle

While I continued digging for more clues to the Appellate Body Reappointment saga, I found a few more interesting bits: 1. When the blockage was first announced, the US cited only three cases, i.e, DS 437, DS 449 & DS 453. However, at the May 23 DSB meeting, the
Henry Gao 28 May 2016 2 min read

The U.S. Justification for its Appellate Body Reappointment Actions

The U.S. actions at the WTO in relation to the reappointment of Seung Wha Chang, discussed in various recent posts (and comments) on this blog, have been heavily criticized by everyone I've talked to about the issue. However, I have heard sympathy for the substance of some
Simon Lester 27 May 2016 4 min read

Why Prof. Chang?

As the Appellate Body reappointment controversy continues to brew, the US has been flooded with criticisms not only from WTO Members, but also from the Appellate Body Members and academics around the world. In its statement at the May 23 DSB Meeting, the US defended its position by stating that
Henry Gao 27 May 2016 3 min read

Reforming Appellate Body Appointments

Over at EJIL:Talk!, Arman Sarvarian and Fontanelli Filippo respond to the Appellate Body reappointment controversy with some reform suggestions: A Single-Term System? The chair of the DSB noted that further consultations were necessary to exit the deadlock. Recourse to diplomacy reveals the structural limits of the applicable procedural rules;
Simon Lester 27 May 2016 1 min read

THE MYTH OF AN APPELLATE BODY THAT NEVER “RESTRICTS THE RIGHTS OR EXPANDS THE OBLIGATIONS OF WTO MEMBERS”

As we now know, the United States has informed the chairman of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body that it cannot support the reappointment of South Korean national Seung Wha Chang to the Appellate Body. The United States justifies its position by the fact that it “ will not support any individual
Marc Benitah 25 May 2016 3 min read

The Appellate Body Reappointment at the DSB

In the last post, I said I would report the details of the DSB discussion of the Appellate Body reappointment controversy when they are available. Well, Inside US Trade has them here. They probably don't want me reposting the whole article, but here's a snippet: The
Simon Lester 23 May 2016 1 min read

Greg Shaffer on the Appellate Body Reappointment Controversy

Here is what Greg wrote about the Appellate Body reappointment controversy, in the Huffington Post: Following the Berlin Wall’s fall, the United States drove the creation of the World Trade Organization and its tribunal, the Appellate Body. The tribunal rose quickly to prominence for its clarification of WTO rules
Simon Lester 23 May 2016 3 min read

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International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Is There No Going Back on Trade? What Is the Path Forward? A Response to Lighthizer

Former U.S. Trade Rep. Bob Lighthizer has a new essay in Foreign Affairs, and I have some thoughts. I'm going to start with his brief big picture points on the direction of U.S. trade policy, and then go through a couple of the specific concepts he emphasizes.
27 Apr 2026 6 min read

The Section 301 Excess Capacity Investigation Needs Less Madness, More Method

Shortly after the Supreme Court ruled President Trump’s emergency tariffs under IEEPA  unconstitutional, the administration scrambled to rebuild its tariff wall. While the announcement of Section 122 tariffs immediately following the ruling will provide a temporary patch, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office quickly began to utilize another
24 Apr 2026 6 min read

War Tariffs

This is a co-authored post by Kathleen Claussen and Tim Meyer. Last week, President Trump announced that the United States would be imposing new tariffs of 50 percent of the value of any product coming from any country that sells weapons or provides military aid to Iran. Some commentators questioned
14 Apr 2026 5 min read

USMCA Review and Extension Predictions

When the idea of an expiration clause was suggested during the NAFTA renegotiation, I was against it from the start, and Inu and I wrote a pretty critical piece about it at the time. A review is great, we said, let's definitely have reviews, and there are plenty of ways to do that.
08 Apr 2026 5 min read

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

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