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Hillary Clinton Is Against TPP

At least based on what she has heard about it so far.  From Vox: In a major blow to President Obama's trade agenda, Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton has come out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In an interview with PBS's Judy Woodruff, Clinton stressed that she
Simon Lester 08 Oct 2015 1 min read

More on the Tobacco Carveout

When it became clear there would be a tobacco carveout from TPP ISDS, I rushed out this critique: I'd be happy to carve ISDS out of trade agreements (or just apply the tobacco carveout proposal to all measures!), but I can't understand why tobacco would be
Simon Lester 08 Oct 2015 2 min read

The Tobacco Carveout and NAFTA Chapter 11

The tobacco carveout for TPP ISDS leads me to another question that has been bothering me: What happens to NAFTA Chapter 11 after TPP?  (Same question applies to other U.S. FTAs that have investment chapters with ISDS.)  Does TPP ISDS supersede NAFTA Chapter 11 entirely, so that any future
Simon Lester 07 Oct 2015 1 min read

Are E-Cigarettes a Tobacco Product?

In the last post, I wondered why the TPP tobacco carveout from ISDS would let e-cigarettes off the hook.  But maybe it won't.  Somebody pointed out to me that nicotine is usually extracted from tobacco, and that the language of the carveout may actually be broad enough to
Simon Lester 07 Oct 2015 1 min read

The Tobacco Carveout: What About E-Cigarettes?

Here's another paragraph from the Inside US Trade article on the tobacco ISDS carveout that I mentioned the other day: The U.S. has proposed to define a tobacco control measure as one relating to the production or consumption of manufactured tobacco products, their distribution, labeling, packaging, wrapping,
Simon Lester 05 Oct 2015 1 min read

The TPP Is Done! Almost!

From the NY Times: The United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations on Monday agreed to the largest regional trade accord in history, a potentially precedent-setting model for global commerce and worker standards that would tie together 40 percent of the world’s economy, from Canada and Chile to
Simon Lester 05 Oct 2015 1 min read

Stiglitz on TPP--Does He Have any Economic Arguments?

At Project Syndicate, Joseph Stiglitz and Adam Hersh have a critique of TPP.  I suppose it was optimistic of me to expect to see concerns about lost jobs or trade diversion--topics that could be illuminated by someone with Stiglitz' enormous skill.  But the critiques were more in the realm
Trachtman 04 Oct 2015 1 min read

Here's Why Trade Law Interpretation Is So Hard and "Gap-Filling" Is Inevitable

From Inside US Trade: The United States and Australia have jointly developed a text proposal on the exclusivity term for biologics medicines and overnight began showing it to other Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries in an effort to build support, in a move that is raising optimism that negotiators can reach
Simon Lester 04 Oct 2015 1 min read

WTO Panel Report on Argentine “Sanctions” Against Panama Tax Haven

Now here is an interesting panel report that came out Wednesday, Sept. 30. Can a WTO member (here, Argentina) impose “defensive measures” against countries not sharing tax information (here, Panama)? The “defensive measures” had to do with capital gains, income tax, transfer pricing rules and rules on capital and re-insurance
Joost Pauwelyn 02 Oct 2015 3 min read

The Policy and Politics of an ISDS Tobacco Carveout

Inside US Trade reports from the TPP negotiations: The U.S. proposal on tobacco tabled here would give countries the option to prevent tobacco companies from challenging tobacco control measures under investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), using a concept that already exists under the U.S. investment model called "denial
Simon Lester 02 Oct 2015 3 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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