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BP and Investor-State Dispute Settlement (or Lack Thereof)

From Carl Pope, Chairman of the Sierra Club: As we wait for President Obama's speech tonight on the oil catastrophe in the Gulf, it's important to understand that many of the options he has discussed -- from requiring BP to set funds aside in escrow for
Simon Lester 15 Jun 2010 2 min read

Competing IEL Visions of Football/Soccer

From Marcus Cole: To the true football fan, the World Cup itself is part of an ideological struggle between two competing corporate goliaths, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (“FIFA”) and the Union of European Football Associations (“UEFA”). Even the names of the two organizations are themselves indicative of the
Simon Lester 15 Jun 2010 2 min read

The Clove Cigarettes Panel Request

Indonesia has now requested a panel in the U.S. - Clove Cigarettes (DS406) dispute.  The request is here:  http://www.worldtradelaw.net/pr/ds406-2(pr).pdf  It's not much different from the consultations request, but does add some more specific TBT claims. I don't think
Simon Lester 14 Jun 2010 1 min read

Krugman on Currency Undervaluation and WTO Law

From Paul Krugman: China says that accusing it of subsidizing its exports via its exchange rate policy — and imposing a countervailing duty — would violate WTO rules. Hmm. Before we talk legalese, let’s focus on the essentials. An export subsidy is WTO-illegal. An import tariff is WTO-illegal. A deliberately undervalued
Simon Lester 14 Jun 2010 1 min read

Gambling Dispute Update

Have you been wondering what has been happening with the U.S.-Antigua WTO Gambling dispute?  Is the U.S. ever going to implement?  Is Antigua going to push for implementation?   This article perhaps provides some insights about what the commercial interests involved have been up to: Atlantic City'
Simon Lester 14 Jun 2010 2 min read

The Intersection of Investment Treaty Law and WTO Law

I think it has been pretty obvious from my blogging that I've developed an interest in investment law and disputes over the past year or so.  As a result, this looks quite interesting to me: Walid Ben Hamida and Todd Weiler, will be editing a TDM Special Issue
Simon Lester 14 Jun 2010 1 min read

Speaking of Dissents

Speaking of dissents, as we have been, I just noticed something from the U.S. China - Exportation of Raw Materials submission.  As mentioned in the last post, the U.S. made the following argument: 363. The reasoning of a General Agreements on Tariff and Trade 1947 (“GATT 1947”) panel
Simon Lester 10 Jun 2010 2 min read

China - Exportation of Raw Materials: The Dispute Gets Under Way

A couple weeks ago, former Appellate Body Member Jim Bacchus had an op-ed in the W$J, talking about China's export restrictions on raw materials: The international trading system is about to encounter an entirely new challenge. The global hunger for natural resources is inspiring a surge in
Simon Lester 10 Jun 2010 3 min read

More USTR TPP Chatting

Next week USTR will be doing more online chatting about the TPP.  Here's the question I submitted this time: When do you anticipate that draft negotiating texts for specific topics will be completed?  When will they be released to the public? You can submit your question here: http:
Simon Lester 10 Jun 2010 1 min read

Thank You for Smoking (Domestic Cigarettes)

From a book review in the Economist: the Chinese Communist Party ordered local officials in Hubei province to smoke nearly a quarter of a million packs of Hubei-branded cigarettes in order to boost the local economy and stave off lay-offs. Official cigarette monitors roamed the province making sure that people
Simon Lester 10 Jun 2010 1 min read

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International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Is There No Going Back on Trade? What Is the Path Forward? A Response to Lighthizer

Former U.S. Trade Rep. Bob Lighthizer has a new essay in Foreign Affairs, and I have some thoughts. I'm going to start with his brief big picture points on the direction of U.S. trade policy, and then go through a couple of the specific concepts he emphasizes.
27 Apr 2026 6 min read

The Section 301 Excess Capacity Investigation Needs Less Madness, More Method

Shortly after the Supreme Court ruled President Trump’s emergency tariffs under IEEPA  unconstitutional, the administration scrambled to rebuild its tariff wall. While the announcement of Section 122 tariffs immediately following the ruling will provide a temporary patch, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office quickly began to utilize another
24 Apr 2026 6 min read

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

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