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Unilateralism vs. Multilateralism in Currency Disputes

Brazil has put forward a conceptual note (Word doc) on the issue of exchange-rate misalignment.  Its focus is on developing trade remedy procedures to deal with the perceived problem: IV. IS THERE A NEED TO CRAFT TRADE REMEDIES THAT SPECIFICALLY ADDRESS CURRENCY MISALIGNMENTS? Existing provisions related to exchange-rate movements in
Simon Lester 06 Dec 2012 2 min read

Is It Time to Regulate U.S. State Subsidies?

I've talked about sub-federal state subsidies before on this blog. The issue is suddenly in the news, due to a long NY Times article today. CFR's Edward Alden proposes reining them in as follows: ... There are three basic requirements: a legislative framework, an adjudication body, and
Simon Lester 03 Dec 2012 1 min read

Incorporating (Some) Unilateral Free Trade into the Trading System

That's the title of a short essay of mine in the Virginia Journal of International Law's online edition.  Here's the main proposal: ... I thus propose an approach that I call "unilateral reciprocal binding trade liberalization." The basic idea is that unilateral liberalization
Simon Lester 28 Nov 2012 1 min read

Reading up on Feed-In Tariffs

There have been a number of news reports about the WTO panel report in the Ontario feed-in tariffs case, brought by Japan and the EU.  The report has been issued to the parties, and may be circulated to the public some time in the next month or so.  If you
Simon Lester 28 Nov 2012 1 min read

"Impediments to Attainment of Objectives" Complaints

GATT Article XXIII:1 sets out the following types of complaints: If any contracting party should consider that any benefit accruing to it directly or indirectly under this Agreement is being nullified or impaired or that the attainment of any objective of the Agreement is being impeded as the result
Simon Lester 26 Nov 2012 2 min read

Border Carbon Adjustments

I don't hear much talk in the U.S. (or around the world for that matter) these days about climate change in general, much less taking any action to deal with it.  But some day the world economy might pick up, and perhaps then we will get back
Simon Lester 26 Nov 2012 2 min read

The State of Canada-EU Trade Negotiations

Canadian journalist Paul Wells provides a link to a leaked memo written by the European Commission, and offers some commentary here.
Simon Lester 26 Nov 2012 1 min read

Seal Products: Russia a Third Party and other Developments

Russia's participation as a third party in the seal products dispute between Canada and the EU will be an early opportunity to see how it approaches WTO litigation.  As I have noted in previous posts, Russia has banned imports of seal fur and its market is understood to
Rob Howse 24 Nov 2012 1 min read

Counsel Position at the ACWL

From the ACWL: The Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL) is a public international organisation, independent of the WTO, which was established in 2001 to provide legal advice on WTO law, support in WTO dispute settlement proceedings and training in WTO law to developing countries and least developed countries. The
Simon Lester 23 Nov 2012 1 min read

India and the World Economic Order: Call for Submissions

From the Trade, Law and Development editors: Founded in 2009, the philosophy of Trade, Law and Development has been to generate and sustain constructive and democratic debate on emergent issues in International Economic Law and to serve as a forum for the discussion and distribution of ideas – with a specific
Simon Lester 23 Nov 2012 1 min read

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International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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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

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

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