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"NAFTA Claus"

I'm not sure that cheap, plastic toys are the best illustration of the benefits of free trade, but, as this article suggests, it is one of the reasons people support it: As I usually opt to give the kids books and clothing, the toy prices surprised me. I
Simon Lester 30 Dec 2009 1 min read

Would Venezuela Nationalize a Toyota Factory?

It's a bit hard to believe, but news reports say it's possible: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered an investigation of Toyota Motor Corp., saying the world’s largest carmaker “can leave” should it fail to meet production quotas and technology-transfer laws. Toyota has refused to make
Simon Lester 26 Dec 2009 2 min read

The Rise of China and the Future of Trade Remedies

From Reuters: China on Wednesday slapped anti-dumping duties on imports of carbon steel fasteners from the European Union, just a day after the EU extended import duties on shoes from China and Vietnam.This reminds me of what recently took place after the U.S. imposed safeguards on Chinese tires:
Simon Lester 23 Dec 2009 1 min read

IEL Faculty Position (in Paris)

At the Science Po School of Law: Sciences Po's School of Law is seeking to recruit a full professor in "international economic law" for a public‐sector teaching position. The successful applicant will be required to teach in the School of Law and the Sciences Po
Simon Lester 23 Dec 2009 1 min read

The AB in China - Publications: GATT Article XX Can Apply Outside the Context of Claims under the GATT

I'm going to have to take a look at this more closely to figure out all the implications, but the AB said the following in today's China - Publications decision: 215. ...  We note that the question of whether the introductory clause of paragraph 5.1 allows
Simon Lester 21 Dec 2009 1 min read

The Line Between Discriminatory Measures and Non-Discriminatory Measures that Affect Trade

I want to go back to the Staiger/Sykes paper on Intenational Trade and Domestic Regulation that I mentioned a little while ago.  At the end of the paper, they present a hypothetical set of facts, based (somewhat) on the EC - Hormones case, which I think provides a good
Simon Lester 20 Dec 2009 3 min read

Trade and Income

Over at vox, Pravin Krishna and Mine Z. Senses explain how trade can negatively affect income: In recent research (Krishna and Senses 2009), we have studied a different dimension of the labour market experience and focused on the effect of increased trade on the risk to income (the variance of
Simon Lester 20 Dec 2009 1 min read

Trade in Everything: Christmas Nutcrackers

It's definitely the Christmas season.  Santa yesterday, now a reader points me to this story about nutcrackers: Low-cost imports of nutcrackers pose a risk to the age-old woodcraft of eastern Germany's Erzgebirge region, famous for its Christmas ornaments. The Chinese-made replicas may increasingly look like the
Simon Lester 18 Dec 2009 2 min read

Santa's Trade Violations

According to Patrick Thomas and Tom Barry, he is dumping, not to mention violating IP rules, destroying the environment, using genetically modified reindeer and abusing his labor.
Simon Lester 17 Dec 2009 1 min read

Brower on Investment Disciplines in FTAs

Over at the Kluwer Arbitration blog, Charles Brower II has an excellent post about possibilities for “rebalancing” or “recalibration” of substantive investment disciplines in FTAs, including NAFTA.  Two of the key points are as follows:1.  It's not easy to amend the investment provisions of FTAs.When it
Simon Lester 16 Dec 2009 2 min read

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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

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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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