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

Farm Subsidies, the U.S. Budget Deficit, and the Doha Round

Former Appellate Body Member Jim Bacchus makes the case for cutting farm subsidies: The federal budgetary squeeze on agricultural subsidies offers the President and Congress a beckoning opportunity to seize and shape a grand global bargain on international trade. We could trade new cuts in farm subsidies for new markets
Simon Lester 10 Jul 2011 1 min read

Carving Tobacco out of Trade Agreements

I've heard this argument before, but I've never seen it written up (and thus been able to blog about it).  Here's the text of a draft letter to USTR Ron Kirk, which is being circulated by Congresswoman Linda Sanchez to her House colleagues: ... We
Simon Lester 07 Jul 2011 2 min read

New Zealand, Plain Packaging, and Investor-State

How is New Zealand reacting to the Philip Morris investment claim against Australia's plain packaging law?  This is from the New Zealand Herald: Big tobacco companies won't be able to sue the Government over anti-smoking laws, Prime Minister John Key says. Philip Morris Asia, based in
Simon Lester 04 Jul 2011 1 min read

Currency Undervaluation at the CIT

Here's more on China currency issues, from Mark Drajem of Bloomberg: Aluminum-product makers filed a lawsuit to force the U.S. Commerce Department to levy tariffs on Chinese imports, countering the effect of a currency the companies deem to be undervalued. In a case at the Court of
Simon Lester 04 Jul 2011 1 min read

The GOP Candidates on China's Currency

Here are a few quotes from some of the GOP Presidential candidates about the Chinese currency issue and trade with China generally. Romney and Pawlenty seem to be the China hawks, with Huntsman more dovish (in particular, see the last part of the Huntsman quote below). Mitt Romney: VAN SUSTEREN:
Simon Lester 04 Jul 2011 3 min read

Two Mitchell/Voon Papers

From Andrew Mitchell: Readers may be interested to read the following draft  papers that I have recently co-authored with Tania  Voon on the impact of WTO law on two ambitious new Australian schemes. The  first paper focuses on the  application of the GATS (and related obligations under Australia’s preferential
Simon Lester 30 Jun 2011 1 min read

More from the CAFC on Inconsistent Zeroing

Following up on this post, here is another decision (JTEKT CORP v. US, released yesterday) from the CAFC that talks about whether the Department of Commerce can take an inconsistent approach to zeroing (no zeroing in investigations, but zeroing in administrative reviews): V. Commerce’s Use of Zeroing We  have
Simon Lester 30 Jun 2011 3 min read

Book Review of Dani Rodrik's "The Globalization Paradox"

Sometimes I write things longer than a blog post.  I've talked about Dani Rodrik's views on trade a number of times (see, e.g., here, here, here and here).  Now I've gone a little further, and written a book review of his latest book,
Simon Lester 30 Jun 2011 1 min read

Another Tobacco Investment Treaty Claim

Via a John Boscariol tweet, I see that there is a new tobacco regulation investment treaty claim in the works: INTERNATIONAL tobacco giant Philip Morris will launch legal action today aimed at forcing the Gillard government to back down on its plain-packaging legislation or face a compensation bill of "
Simon Lester 26 Jun 2011 2 min read

What Aspect of a Measure Should be Considered under the GATT Article XX Sub-Paragraphs? Some Criticism

In three comments on the last post, the Appellate Body's new approach to what aspect of a measure should be considered under the GATT Article XX sub-paragraphs is getting heavily criticized.  In this post, I'm going to support some of that criticism, but then come to
Simon Lester 26 Jun 2011 3 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

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

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

17 posts

Russia Trade Sanctions

17 posts

Sanctions

15 posts

Section 301

3 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

117 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

53 posts

U.S. Trade Policy

32 posts

U.S. Trade Politics

60 posts

US-China Trade Relations

26 posts

USMCA

19 posts

USMCA Dispute Settlement

33 posts

USMCA Sunset/Review Clause

19 posts

USTR

16 posts

WTO - General

25 posts

WTO Accessions

8 posts

WTO Disputes

175 posts

WTO DS Reform

13 posts

WTO Jurisprudence

28 posts

WTO Negotiations

30 posts
Powered by Ghost