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Alternative Approaches to Causation

In the Journal of World Trade (and free on SSRN), Dukgeun Ahn and William J. Moon argue for a new approach to the causation standard in trade remedy investigations, which they call the "Cost of Production" test.  Here's an excerpt: We argue that correlation, in a
Simon Lester 15 Oct 2010 1 min read

Copenhagen Competition on Access to Medicines -- Live Broadcast this evening

Kudos to the University of Copenhagen (and especially Prof. Laura Nielsen) for organizing the Copenhagen international negotiation competition. Last year the competition simulated a climate change treaty in parallel with the COP15 talks. This year, the teams from OECD and non-OECD law schools have been negotiating segments of a
Tomer Broude 15 Oct 2010 1 min read

Dan Griswold on Trade Negotiations versus Trade Enforcement

Which is more important: Trade negotiations or trade enforcement?  Writing in the Washington Times, Dan Griswold argues: The Obama administration has vowed to ramp up enforcement of existing trade agreements in an effort to open markets further to U.S. exports. The pledge is popular with members of Congress who
Simon Lester 14 Oct 2010 3 min read

Unilateral Free Trade in Cabbage

Every now and then, a unique set of circumstances arises that leads a government to embrace free trade unilaterally, if only for a particular product.  The Economist reports on the impact of a dramatic rise in cabbage prices: Normally, Koreans serve home-grown kimchi as a matter of honour. But
Simon Lester 14 Oct 2010 1 min read

The Export Contingency Standard

I've got a hypothetical related to the export contingency standard, and I'm curious to hear what people think of it.  Let's say you have a subsidy measure under which the subsidy is available to producers on the following basis.  You get the subsidy if
Simon Lester 12 Oct 2010 1 min read

Mitchell and Voon on WTO Law and Tobacco Regulation

Two papers to mention here.  First up, Andrew Mitchell and Tania Voon have posted "Regulating Tobacco Flavours: Implications of WTO Law" on SSRN.  Here's the abstract: Within the World Trade Organization (‘WTO’), regulatory measures of Canada and the United States restricting ‘flavouring’ of tobacco products including
Simon Lester 12 Oct 2010 2 min read

Busch and Levy on a WTO Complaint Against China's Currency Policies

Writing in The American, Marc Busch and Phil Levy are are skeptical of a WTO complaint against China's currency policies: ... the legal merits of the case are dubious. China’s exchange rate regime could be attacked as a subsidy scheme or as a way of frustrating market opening
Simon Lester 10 Oct 2010 2 min read

Evenett and Barfield on the Limits of WTO Dispute Settlement

Over at vox, Simon Evenett writes: The failure to conclude the Doha Round isn't the only drain on the credibility of the WTO and the rules-based trading system. Poor choices of dispute settlement cases are too. It appears that some are so besotted with the "power&
Simon Lester 10 Oct 2010 6 min read

Global Trade Watch on Trade and Jobs

From Global Trade Watch: The Trade Data Center that we launched last week contains so many data products that they can almost be lost in a blur. Right now I’d like to take some time to zoom in and profile the most exciting new data product – the overhauled Trade
Simon Lester 10 Oct 2010 1 min read

Measures that Affect Currencies / Measures that Affect Trade

I have found the recent discussions of "currency wars" hard to follow.  There seems to be a fear that many governments are taking actions which cause their currency to decline in value, in the interest of pursuing competitive devaluations.  I'm not convinced.  It seems to me
Simon Lester 07 Oct 2010 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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