International Economic Law and Policy Blog
  • Home
  • About
  • WorldTradeLaw.net
Sign in Subscribe

Does TTIP Need ISDS? Part II

The European Parliament's Committee on International Trade held a workshop on ISDS on Tuesday. I had a little trouble viewing the recorded video, but try these links. I was particularly interested in the response given by Rupert Schlegelmilch of the European Commission to the question, "Where is
Simon Lester 02 Apr 2014 1 min read

Domestic Regulation and Services Trade in the WTO: What scope is there for enhanced disciplines?

A guest post by Aik Hoe Lim and Bart De Meester [1]: Recent disputes concerning Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement – in particular US - Tuna II (Mexico) and US - Clove Cigarettes – have focused attention on measures that, even when not discriminatory, may constitute barriers to trade in
Simon Lester 02 Apr 2014 5 min read

Free Trade Is a Two-Way Street, and So Is Protectionism

Daniel Ikenson (Cato Institute) made an insightful observation in a blog post (“WTO Indictment of Chinese Export Restrictions Unearths U.S. Hypocrisy”).  Here are some excerpts from his post. “During the last decade (2000-2009), four out of every five antidumping measures (79.4%) were imposed on imported intermediate goods.  Over
Sungjoon Cho 01 Apr 2014 1 min read

Does TTIP Need ISDS?

From the FT last week: Mr De Gucht said the negotiations to create what would be the world’s biggest free trade zone would be at risk if an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism was not part of the proposed deal. “I doubt it,” he responded when asked if the pact
Simon Lester 31 Mar 2014 1 min read

Protectionism, Health, and the Purpose of Country of Origin Labelling

From a ruling last week on the U.S. COOL measure by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit: What then are the government interests here? AMI argues that the rule merely satisfies consumers’ curiosity. But we can see non-frivolous values advanced by the information. Obviously it
Simon Lester 31 Mar 2014 1 min read

What Are the "Cogent Reasons" that Could Justify Not Following AB Precedent?

From yesterday's DS449 WTO panel report: 7.317. ... In our view, bearing in mind the Appellate Body's particular function in the WTO dispute settlement system, reasons that could support but would not compel a different interpretative result to the one ultimately adopted by the Appellate Body
Simon Lester 28 Mar 2014 1 min read

Legal Analysis of the Trade Facilitation Agreement

I still don't know much about the Trade Facilitation Agreement, but law prof Antonia Eliason does, and she has written an article about it.  Here's the abstract: This article provides a first analysis of the new WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, tracing it from its origins in
Simon Lester 28 Mar 2014 1 min read

Associate Editor Position

From the MJIEL: ASSOCIATE EDITOR/S FOR THE MANCHESTER JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW (MJIEL) The MJIEL is looking for Associate Editor/s with a proven and distinguished record in research in the field of International Economic Law to work with Professor Asif H Qureshi and Dr Xuan Gao and
Simon Lester 28 Mar 2014 1 min read

Trade Constitution 2.0

Both Professor Howse and Simon raised an important issue in the China-Rare Earths panel report, whose full ramifications, I believe, would go beyond this particular dispute.  To me, the panel’s ostensibly nebulous position on GATT Article XX denotes hermeneutical birth pangs for the “Trade Constitution 2.0.”  What I
Sungjoon Cho 28 Mar 2014 2 min read

China - Rare Earths: Some Systemic Issues

The China - Rare Earths WTO panel report was circulated yesterday. What's jumping out at me in the report are some really interesting systemic issues. First, there is some good stuff about the role of precedent, and when a WTO panel might depart from prior Appellate Body reasoning
Simon Lester 27 Mar 2014 1 min read

About

International Economic Law and Policy Blog

International Economic Law and Policy Blog

Expert commentary on the law, politics and economics of international trade and investment

Sign up for email notifications

[email protected]
Subscribe

Featured

Tracking Goods Exports under the Trump Administration's Trade Policies

My sense is that one of the reasons some traditionally pro-trade members of Congress have continued to support Trump's trade policies, despite misgivings they may have about tariffs, is because they hope these policies will pry open foreign markets, leading to increased US exports.
07 May 2026 8 min read

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

Topics

2008 Presidential Election

25 posts

2012 Republican Primary

6 posts

2020 Democratic Primary

22 posts

2020 Presidential Campaign

6 posts

2024 Presidential Campaign

9 posts

2024 Republican Primary

9 posts

Announcements

27 posts

Appellate Body

72 posts

CAFTA

5 posts

CETA

8 posts

Currency Disputes

57 posts

Development

23 posts

Digital Trade

59 posts

Domestic Trade Powers

10 posts

Dormant Commerce Clause

3 posts

DSU 25 Interim Appeals

43 posts

DSU Article 11

13 posts

Economic Integration

8 posts

Economic Statecraft

10 posts

EU-UK Trade Negotiation

5 posts

Exceptions

19 posts

Exchange Rates

6 posts

Export Restrictions

13 posts

Food Aid

5 posts

Foreign Investment

21 posts

FTA Negotiations

13 posts

FTAs - General

22 posts

Gambling Dispute

52 posts

Global Governance

9 posts

Globalization

13 posts

Government Procurement

5 posts

Green Steel Deal

14 posts

IEEPA

9 posts

IEL in Domestic Courts

20 posts

Indo-Pacific Economic Framework

5 posts

Industrial Policy

19 posts

Investor-State Arbitration

93 posts

Jamieson Greer

17 posts

Katherine Tai

66 posts

NAFTA

19 posts

NAFTA Chapter 11

15 posts

NAFTA Chapter 19

5 posts

National Security

38 posts

Non Appeal Pact

3 posts

Non-Discrimination Standards

60 posts

Non-Market Economies

6 posts

Non-Violation Nullification or Impairment

19 posts

Precedent

25 posts

Public Views of Trade

9 posts

Rare Earths

1 post

Robert Lighthizer

18 posts

Russia Trade Sanctions

17 posts

Sanctions

15 posts

Section 301

12 posts

Sovereignty

9 posts

Speech

1 post

SPS/TBT

5 posts

Standards of Review

7 posts

State Enterprises

7 posts

Sub-National Trade Issues

5 posts

Subsidies

83 posts

Tariffs

3 posts

Terms of Trade Manipulation

6 posts

Trade Agreements

21 posts

Trade and Competition

14 posts

Trade and Development

21 posts

Trade and Environment

118 posts

Trade and Health

20 posts

Trade and Human Rights

9 posts

Trade and Income Inequality

1 post

Trade and Intellectual Property

26 posts

Trade and Labor

25 posts

Trade and Peace

4 posts

Trade and Security

35 posts

Trade and the Stock Market

2 posts

Trade Balance

11 posts

Trade in Everything

65 posts

Trade in Services

21 posts

Trade Law and International Law

10 posts

Trade Preferences/GSP

23 posts

Trade Remedies

63 posts

Trans Pacific Partnership

8 posts

Trump Administration

54 posts

U.S. Trade Policy

32 posts

U.S. Trade Politics

60 posts

US-China Trade Relations

27 posts

USMCA

19 posts

USMCA Dispute Settlement

33 posts

USMCA Sunset/Review Clause

23 posts

USTR

16 posts

WTO - General

25 posts

WTO Accessions

8 posts

WTO Disputes

177 posts

WTO DS Reform

13 posts

WTO Jurisprudence

28 posts

WTO Negotiations

30 posts
Powered by Ghost