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Is TransCanada's NAFTA Chapter 11 Claim "Frivolous"?

This is from Inside US Trade: One business source said the Keystone ISDS claim definitely complicates the TPP approval process, but should be “manageable.” This source said the administration will likely fight back against criticism by arguing that the Keystone claim is frivolous and by highlighting the changes it secured
Simon Lester 10 Jan 2016 1 min read

Call for Papers: Adjudicating International Trade and Investment Disputes: Between Interaction and Isolation

PluriCourts, at the University of Oslo Faculty of Law, has issued a call for papers for a conference on "Adjudicating International Trade and Investment Disputes: Between Interaction and Isolation" (more details at the links): CALL FOR PAPERS Adjudicating international trade and investment disputes: between interaction and isolation The
Simon Lester 10 Jan 2016 2 min read

TransCanada Will File a NAFTA ISDS Claim

From TransCanada's press release: TransCanada Corporation ... announced today it has filed a Notice of Intent to initiate a claim under Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in response to the U.S. Administration's decision to deny a Presidential Permit for the Keystone
Simon Lester 06 Jan 2016 2 min read

10 Years of Blogging

10 years, man! 10 years! That's how long it has been since Joel did the first post (Tomer had the first comment).  It was on the EU GMO ban, and the EU's failure to comply with its WTO obligations.  What are the chances this issue will
Simon Lester 06 Jan 2016 1 min read

Presidential Candidates Threatening To Violate International Economic Law Obligations

You may have heard that there's this leading U.S. Presidential candidate making threats to violate U.S. international economic law obligations.  Yes, that one, but also this one: Hillary Clinton signaled a willingness to hold as "leverage" the patents of American companies keeping assets overseas
Simon Lester 05 Jan 2016 1 min read

The Indian Model BIT

Recall that a while back, I talked about a new draft Indian model BIT.  As Investment Arbitration Reporter explains, India now has a final version of this model BIT.  IA Reporter has the complete rundown; I'm just going to mention briefly the general exceptions clause.  In the draft
Simon Lester 05 Jan 2016 1 min read

Does the TPP Tobacco Carveout Allow for Discriminatory Measures?

Recall that the TPP tobacco carveout says this: Article 29.5: Tobacco Control Measures12 A Party may elect to deny the benefits of Section B of Chapter 9 (Investment) with respect to claims challenging a tobacco control measure13 of the Party. Such a claim shall not be submitted to arbitration
Simon Lester 03 Jan 2016 2 min read

Is TTIP-Light Enough?

At the outset of the TTIP talks, people were talking up regulatory issues as the most important part.  But perhaps it was just too much to deal with, at least in such a short period of time.  Can everyone accept a "TTIP Light"?  This is from Inside US
Simon Lester 30 Dec 2015 1 min read

Will the EU Grant China Market Economy Status?

This is from the FT: Washington has warned Brussels against granting China ‘market economy status’, saying the long-sought trade concession could hamper efforts to prevent Chinese companies flooding US and European markets with unfairly cheap goods. ... US officials have warned EU counterparts that granting Beijing MES would amount to “unilaterally
Simon Lester 30 Dec 2015 1 min read

How High Were Tariffs Before the GATT?

In various papers I've written, I'm sure I have made the point that prior to the GATT, world tariffs were around 40%, and the GATT/WTO brought them down from there to much lower levels.  I suspect others have done the same. But Chad Bown and
Simon Lester 23 Dec 2015 1 min read

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Could Congress Extend the USMCA for Another Term?

People have been assuming that the decision on whether to extend the USMCA for another term is up to President Trump, but based on the language of the USMCA related to the upcoming joint review, could Congress actually have the power to make this decision on its own?
04 May 2026 4 min read

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

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