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GATT Article XX: The Chapeau vs. the Sub-Paragraphs

This is from Lorand Bartels, in the latest AJIL: The Chapeau of the General Exceptions in the WTO GATT and GATS Agreements: A Reconstruction ... Conclusions This article argues that the Appellate Body has misunderstood the chapeau and that, in particular, there is no analytic, structural, or even thematic difference between
Simon Lester 20 Jul 2015 1 min read

Water Pricing and Subsidies

Let's say California is experiencing a serious drought. And let's say companies are bottling and selling municipal water from California. And let's say that the price set by the government for the purchase of this water is low enough that it contributes to consumption
Simon Lester 17 Jul 2015 1 min read

Tie Votes at the ITC and WTO

This is from Inside US Trade: In Tie Vote, ITC Find U.S. Producers Are Injured By Chinese Tire Imports In a victory for the United Steelworkers (USW) union, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on Tuesday (July 14) issued a final determination that domestic tire producers are being
Simon Lester 17 Jul 2015 1 min read

The Deal on Greek Debt:Political Gamechanger for Europe,Tactical Retreat (not Surrender) by Tsipras

The conventional wisdom, delivered before anyone could really ponder the fine print of the Greek debt deal, is that Tsipras surrendered to the creditors in a humiliating defeat.  His referendum and prior tenacity in negotiations proved futile,according to the predominant account that has emerged in the media and the
Rob Howse 13 Jul 2015 6 min read

Non-Violation and TRIPS (and GATT and GATS)

This is from a submission by a number of WTO Members who are skeptical of allowing non-violation and situation complaints -- through the removal of the current moratorium on those complaints -- under the TRIPS Agreement: Non-violation and situation complaints are unnecessary to protect any balance of rights and obligations
Simon Lester 13 Jul 2015 2 min read

Some IP Protections Probably Go Too Far

This is from Fredrik Erixon of Brussels think tank ECIPE: Thirdly, it is difficult to find economic justifications to put copyright concerns in the top league of priorities. Copyrights are already much longer than is economically motivated. There is not an efficient system for global registration and transfers of copyrights;
Simon Lester 13 Jul 2015 1 min read

WHEN THE APPELLATE BODY REFORMULATES WITHOUT JUSTIFICATION A CANON OF INTERPRETATION: CONSEQUENCES FOR CHINA'S EXCHANGE RATE LEGAL STATUS

The canon of interpretation ejusdem generis states that where a listing of particular persons or things is FOLLOWED by a general term, the general term must refer to the same kinds of persons or things previously listed. In other words, the general term is limited by things ejusdem generis - “of
Marc Benitah 12 Jul 2015 2 min read

The TPP and Jobs

I wish there were a lot less talk of the TPP leading to massive job losses or job gains, and instead people said more sensible things like this, from Ted Moran: But economists are taught—as a matter of theory—that trade agreements cannot be expected to create a greater
Simon Lester 10 Jul 2015 1 min read

More from the Productivity Commission on ISDS

We discussed what Australia's Productivity Commission thought of ISDS back here.  Now they have something more to say, but I couldn't do anywhere near as good a job explaining it as Esme Shirlow did over at the Kluwer Arbitration Blog.  Here's an excerpt, but
Simon Lester 10 Jul 2015 1 min read

Piketty, Globalization, and the Inequality Puzzle inside the Higher Income Bracket.

In his book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty establishes a fact that many people have not suspected. Whereas many suspected the confirmed fact that a gap has opened up after the seventies between the top 10 percent and average income earners, many did not suspect that the
Marc Benitah 08 Jul 2015 2 min read

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Why Section 338 Does Not Work in a GATT/WTO World: Lessons from Trade Law History

On July 21, 2026, President Trump exercised his authority under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (hereinafter Section 338) to impose the maximum amount of additional tariffs (fifty per cent) on Canadian cars, alcohol, and dairy, owing to his determination of Canada’s discriminatory treatment of US exports.
23 Jul 2026 10 min read

EU WTO Reform Proposal Seeks To Extend Accession-Based State Enterprise Rules To All Members

In a new WTO reform paper entitled "Further Reflections on Disciplines, Subsidies and Industrial policy," the EU argues for stronger WTO disciplines on the behavior of state enterprises.
17 Jul 2026 5 min read

Governments Make Their Case Against Section 301 Forced Labor Tariffs

Last month, USTR made a determination in 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."
10 Jul 2026 5 min read

How Should the EU Get Tough with China? Unilateral Action vs. WTO Complaints

I've seen several recent calls for the EU to get tougher in its economic relations with China, along with arguments that it has been too slow to act against the Chinese economic threat.
06 Jul 2026 4 min read

Trump Administration Decides Not To Extend USMCA for Another Term: What Does That Mean Exactly?

Today, as part of the first joint review of the USMCA, the three governments held a virtual meeting.
01 Jul 2026 4 min read

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