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Pascal Lamy's Final Speech as WTO DG

I have greatly enjoyed blogging about Pascal Lamy's speeches over the years. He gets into real substance far more than most public officials.  Here are some snippets from his final speech as DG. First, some skepticism on the trend towards regionalism: We also know that behind the headlines
Simon Lester 25 Jul 2013 2 min read

Japan, the TPP, and a Time Warp

Congressman Sander Levin wants to get tough on Japan if they are going to be part of the TPP talks.  He gets into some details here (from Inside U.S. Trade): III. Current and Future Non-Tariff Barriers (Other than Currency Manipulation) Existing Barriers. Japan will agree to eliminate all existing
Simon Lester 23 Jul 2013 2 min read

Implementing the Clove Cigarettes Case

From the U.S. statement at today's DSB meeting: • To come into compliance with the DSB’s recommendations and rulings, the United States has taken and is taking a number of actions in relation to menthol cigarettes. Today, the United States is announcing several actions by U.S.
Simon Lester 23 Jul 2013 2 min read

Direct Car Sales and GATT Article III:4

Some of you may have heard of Tesla, a car company that makes high-end electric cars (if you are thinking of this 1980s band, you have the wrong Tesla).  What you may not have heard is that they are using a novel sales method, under which they bypass dealers and
Simon Lester 19 Jul 2013 1 min read

A “WTO Remedies Implementation Committee” in the Gambling Dispute

This is from a press release I just received from the Antigua Gambling case team: The Government of Antigua and Barbuda today announced the formation of a select committee charged with overseeing the implementation process as the nation seeks to suspend certain concessions and other obligations relating to United States
Simon Lester 17 Jul 2013 2 min read

Will TTIP Raise or Lower Regulatory Standards?

Some people worry that the TTIP will cause governments to engage in more regulation. Here is Fred Smith of the Competitive Enterprise Institute: the EU’s economic and political weight is comparable to that of the United States, and in many areas, existing EU regulations are more burdensome than America’
Simon Lester 16 Jul 2013 1 min read

Reading the Tea Leaves on Investor-State in the TTIP

During the closing press conference at the TTIP last week, someone asked the lead negotiators a question along the lines of, "Will there be investor-state in the TTIP, and how will you address concerns with subversion of democracy?"  You can see their answer at 29:08 of this
Simon Lester 16 Jul 2013 1 min read

The Number of WTO Disputes: Regression to the Mean

Last year about this time, I was talking about how many more WTO disputes there were than normal. We ended up with the most WTO disputes in a long time: 27. With the latest WTO complaint (the EU's complaint against Russia's car recycling fee), I thought
Simon Lester 12 Jul 2013 1 min read

The Plain Packaging Dispute: A Mock Trial

This sounds like it was a lot of fun: In a dry run of one of the biggest legal battles in public health, an advocate for Australia's tobacco policies has delivered seemingly strong rebuttals of objections likely to be mounted in a landmark case at the World Trade
Simon Lester 10 Jul 2013 1 min read

U.S. Compliance in the Tuna-Dolphin Case

The final U.S. regulation related to labelling of dolphin-safe tuna, taken in response to last year's DSB ruling, is now out: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/07/09/2013-16508/enhanced-document-requirements-to-support-use-of-the-dolphin-safe-label-on-tuna-products If anyone wants to parse through it and offer an opinion as to whether this brings
Simon Lester 10 Jul 2013 1 min read

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International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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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

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