Speaking of unilateral tariffs, like the kind proposed by Ian Fletcher as mentioned in the last post, writing in the NY Times last September Alan Tonelson and Kevin Kearns had this to say: America needs more sweeping and proactive tariffs on foreign goods and services that compete directly with existing

Are we seeing a resurgence of protectionist thinking?  Via Todd Tucker, here is Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt criticizing the economic arguments for free trade: ... economists view the world as a giant cattle farm to be managed in ways that maximize the collective weight of the cattle, totally in abstraction from

A couple months ago, I did a post about whether clove cigarettes encourage kids to try smoking, and said that this could be a key issue in the Clove Cigarettes WTO case.  It looks like the Panel in that case is thinking about this issue as well.  Here's

I have not seen too much discussion of the international law features of Gov. Walker's proposal to end collective bargaining rights for state workers in Wisconsin.  The right to collective bargaining is one of the so-called "core labor rights" that the U.S. uses for

The EU has blocked the first panel request in the WTO seal products dispute.  From Bloomberg: The European Union blocked Canadian efforts to have the World Trade Organization decide whether an EU ban on trade in seal products breaks global trade rules. The EU won’t be able to prevent

Writing in Newsweek, Daniel Altman argues that the future of free trade lies with bilateral and regional trade talks, and says "good riddance" to the WTO.  I think he elaborates on his views in this book, but I haven't read it yet so I'll

Here's more on the issue of cash payments to settle anti-dumping cases, from a reader who wants to remain anonymous: The Wall Street Journal article has been picked up and commented on by others.  See, e.g., http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/tony-soprano-meets-the-