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Is China's Currency Policy Protectionist At All?

The Economist isn't so sure: A beefed-up version of the Big Mac index suggests that the Chinese yuan is now close to its fair value against the dollar. More from Scott Lincicome here.
Simon Lester 15 Aug 2011 1 min read

Is China the Biggest Protectionist in History?

From Fred Bergsten: But China and some other emerging markets, especially in its immediate neighborhood, are also violating some of the most fundamental rules of the international economic system, to the great detriment of the United States and many other countries. A cardinal goal of the International Monetary Fund, which
Simon Lester 12 Aug 2011 1 min read

Protectionism and Japan's Tsunami Relief Effort

From USA Today: Almost four months after the March 11 tsunami destroyed their home, Kazuko Abe moved her family of four into temporary housing in July. "It doesn't matter to me who built the houses, I just wish they could have been quicker," said Abe, 66,
Simon Lester 10 Aug 2011 3 min read

Junior IEL Scholars Forum

From the IELIG: The International Economic Law Interest Group (IELIG) is pleased to announce its inaugural "Safe Spaces Roundtable" for junior scholars. The Safe Spaces Roundtable will provide junior scholars with detailed feedback from more senior colleagues on early drafts of their work. The Roundtable will be closed
Simon Lester 10 Aug 2011 1 min read

Using Trade Law to Enforce Investment Law

From Reuters: A U.S. company plans to ask the Obama administration for help in recovering more than $230 million it says it is owned by the government of Argentina, an attorney for the company said on Monday. Stephen Kho, a lawyer with the Akin Gump law firm, said it
Simon Lester 09 Aug 2011 1 min read

The Environmental Kuznets Curve and GATT Article XX

From last month's China - Exportation of Raw Materials panel report: 7.551 We now turn to analyse the second step in China's argument about the long-term benefits of export restrictions on EPR products, namely that there is a strong link between higher growth and environmental
Simon Lester 07 Aug 2011 2 min read

Sea Turtles, Dolphins, Seals ... and Sharks?

Marine life has played an important role in GATT/WTO dispute settlement.  Here's an argument for bringing sharks into the mix: Oceana, the largest international advocacy group working solely to protect the world’s oceans, called on the United States government today to ban the import of shark
Simon Lester 05 Aug 2011 1 min read

Investor-State: Learning as We Go

On SSRN, here's the abstract of a paper entitled "When the Claim Hits: Bilateral Investment Treaties and Bounded Rational Learning," by Lauge Skovgaard Poulsen and Emma Aisbett: Using the international investment regime as its point of departure, the paper introduces notions of bounded rationality to the
Simon Lester 03 Aug 2011 1 min read

Delineating the Outer Limits of Investment Treaties

In an ASIL Insight entitled "The Australian Trade Policy Statement on Investor-State Dispute Settlement," Jürgen Kurtz writes: States can protect domestic policy space in an investment treaty by clearly delineating the outer limits of substantive obligations and/or crafting exceptions for state conduct. For instance, the investment
Simon Lester 03 Aug 2011 1 min read

The Purpose of International Investment Agreements

From a paper by Anne Van Aaken and Tobias A. Lehmann, entitled "Investment and Sustainable Development: Developing a New Conceptual Framework": It is already questionable whether the only purpose of [International Investment Agreements] IIAs is the protection of investment.  Rather, as most preambles reveal, protection of investment is
Simon Lester 03 Aug 2011 1 min read

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Featured

Does The EU Need Its Own Section 301 To Counter China's Distortions?

Recently, economists Sander Tordoir and Brad Setser suggested that the EU may need its own version of Section 301 in order to "confront China’s systemic distortions beyond piecemeal trade defence."
17 Jun 2026 7 min read

The Section 301 Forced Labor Import Ban Report

On June 2, 2026, USTR released its report on its Section 301 investigation into acts, policies, and practices of various economies related to the failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.
04 Jun 2026 11 min read

What To Expect from the USMCA Review?

The USMCA review is almost upon us. How exactly things will proceed is a bit unclear, as we've never done this sort of thing before, but July 1 is the six year anniversary of the USMCA's entry into force.
03 Jun 2026 15 min read

China in the World Trading System: A Response to Chad, and Some Comments on Froman-Greer

I'm going to use this post to (1) respond to Chad and (2) comment on an exchange between current U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer and former U.S. Trade Rep. Mike Froman at a recent CFR event.
01 Jun 2026 7 min read

My Response To Simon on China in the World Trading System

Here are two quick reactions to the super important question of what explains why countries did not use WTO dispute settlement to push China to change.
28 May 2026 2 min read

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