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The Tuna-Dolphin Panel

The new Tuna-Dolphin WTO dispute could be trouble for the system, which is bad, but will have some very interesting legal issues, which is good (or fun to follow, anyway).  Among other things, there will be issues related to: (1) choice of forum as between NAFTA and the WTO; (2)
Simon Lester 16 Dec 2009 3 min read

The Bananas Dispute Settlement: Who Wins?

European consumers: Banana prices are set to fall after the longest trade dispute in EU history was settled in Geneva today. Latin American exporters: The change means banana prices in the EU will drop 11 percent while Latin American producers will see exports climb, said Giovanni Anania, a professor at
Simon Lester 15 Dec 2009 1 min read

Financial Contribution to One Entity, Benefit to Another

I can recall talking with a number of people about the issue of whether a subsidy may exist where the financial contribution goes to one entity, but the benefit is to another.  It appears that this issue has come up in the DS379 dispute.  Here's a question from
Simon Lester 15 Dec 2009 3 min read

The Shortest WTO Dispute Written Submission Ever

It's the U.S. first written submission in the U.S. - AD Measures on Carrier Bags (DS383) case, related to zeroing.  It's five paragraphs long.  Here's the fifth and final paragraph: 5. The United States acknowledges the accuracy of Thailand’s description of
Simon Lester 15 Dec 2009 1 min read

Policy Space for Industrialization: How Constraining Is The WTO?

I've blogged about Dani Rodrik and policy space before.   He is now making similar points related to the specific case of China, arguing that China's currency undervaluation is a substitute for the protectionist policies it can no longer undertake as a result of joining the WTO:
Simon Lester 13 Dec 2009 2 min read

Accountability at the WTO

From a letter by Daniel Bradlow to the FT: The World Bank and the regional development banks have all created independent accountability mechanisms that can investigate bank-funded operations in which non-state actors believe they have been harmed by the failure of these organisations to comply with their own operational policies.
Simon Lester 13 Dec 2009 1 min read

Chinese Tire Tariffs: A Panel Has Been Requested

I have not seen much written about the U.S. tariffs on Chinese tires since the consultations request was filed.  We are now on to the next stage, though, as China has just filed its panel request.  At first glance, the main differences between the requests are that the panel
Simon Lester 11 Dec 2009 1 min read

Trade in Everything: Musicians

From the Washington Post (via Reuters): Cuban musicians are returning to perform in the United States after a long freeze on such visits, seizing the opportunity of friendlier overtures toward Havana from U.S. President Barack Obama. Well-known Cuban musicians are being granted visas to perform at U.S. venues
Simon Lester 11 Dec 2009 1 min read

A New Journal ("European Journal of Risk Regulation") and a Call for Papers

On behalf of Prof. Alberto Alemanno,As the European Union is increasingly emerging as de facto global regulator of all kinds of rules concerning the environment, human health, and safety, risk regulation is becoming a new lens through which to analyse the European integration process. Indeed, today the most important
Sungjoon Cho 11 Dec 2009 3 min read

Nuclear Waste, Trade and Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

My post on the WTO-legality of an import ban on nuclear waste generated a fair amount of discussion (including a reference to the movie Back to the Future!), so I thought I'd follow-up with this quote from Florida Rep. Cliff Stearns, who explains his opposition to the import
Simon Lester 11 Dec 2009 1 min read

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International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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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