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Do All "Buy National" Provisions Result in a "Benefit"?

This is from Friday's China – GOES WTO panel report: 7.363 In the Panel's view, the United States has not made out its claim under Article 22.3 of the SCM Agreement. The United States argues that MOFCOM did not explain why a price derived from
Simon Lester 18 Jun 2012 3 min read

What Does Fair and Equitable Treatment Mean? What Does Anything in Trade Law Mean?

Benn McGrady says the following about the fair and equitable treatment standard in international investment law: Older cases from the days of diplomatic protection (when a state would bring a claim on behalf of its nationals) suggest that it is very difficult to establish a violation by the host state.
Simon Lester 18 Jun 2012 2 min read

The Leaked TPP Investment Chapter

Yesterday the investment chapter of the TPP was leaked to the public. I don't have any particular thoughts on this at the moment (except, how do these things get leaked?), so I'll just quote from some others. Global Trade Watch says: “The outrageous stuff in this
Simon Lester 14 Jun 2012 2 min read

Chances of Success in the Plain Packaging WTO Complaint

From Australian law professor Matthew Rimmer: The Ukraine would have more chance of winning the UEFA (Union of European Football Association) football competition then they would of winning this WTO action. Is that an accurate assessment? Is he underestimating the chances? Or is that just about right? How do the
Simon Lester 14 Jun 2012 1 min read

Economic Nationalism As a Marketing Tool

From Reuters: Starbucks Corp (SBUX) on Tuesday will debut the first products in a line of U.S.-made mugs and other merchandise that will be sold in its roughly 7,000 U.S. cafes to support domestic manufacturing and raise money for its Create Jobs for USA fund. The
Simon Lester 12 Jun 2012 1 min read

The US View of the Role of Precedent

This is from Friday's Shrimp and Saw Blades WTO panel report: 6.7 The United States considers that the quotations to two Appellate Body Reports contained in paragraph 7.29 do not adequately reflect the role that each panel  plays in the dispute settlement process.  The United States
Simon Lester 11 Jun 2012 2 min read

Export Credit Financing and Negotiating Priorities

Reuters reports that the Ex-Im bank has been reauthorized. In this context, President Obama said: As long as our global competitors are providing financing for their exports, we've got to do the same. So I'm glad that Congress got this done. It sounds to me like
Simon Lester 01 Jun 2012 3 min read

Are Tuna Trade Restrictions Unavoidable?

Is there any way for the US not to discriminate against foreign tuna with its dolphin safe labeling laws? In the context of the WTO Tuna decision and possible implementation alternatives, some members of Congress seem to think this will be difficult: The WTO decision, in contrast, would require the
Simon Lester 01 Jun 2012 1 min read

Implementing Cloves-US Intentions

From Rob Howse, who asked me to post this for him: At the May 24 DSB meeting the United States made the following statement concerning implementation of the Cloves ruling: This morning, as provided for in the first sentence of Article 21.3 of the DSU, the United States wishes
Simon Lester 30 May 2012 1 min read

Anti-Coercion in Tuna

There are a number of past GATT/WTO disputes where the issue of the "coercive" nature of the measure was raised. The old tuna/dolphin cases and the shrimp/turtle cases come to mind immediately, and I'm sure there are others. (I haven't done
Simon Lester 29 May 2012 4 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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