International Economic Law and Policy Blog (Page 42)

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First CPTPP Panel Composed

As noted on the blog here, in May 2022 New Zealand filed the first ever CPTPP consultations request, relating to Canadian measures "concerning the allocation of dairy tariff rate quotas (TRQs) under CPTPP (dairy TRQ allocation measures)." A panel request was filed in November 2022. On March 9,

From Karl Sauvant on an Advisory Centre on International Investment Law

9 March 2023 Establishing an Advisory Centre on International Investment Law: Key challenges ahead by Karl P. Sauvant* Over 130 countries (of which some 80 developing countries, including 18 least developed countries) have so far faced treaty-based international investment disputes (74 new disputes in 2021 alone), for a total of

Japan Joins the MPIA

There seems to be a bit of momentum with the MPIA these days. There was the recently issued Colombia - Frozen Fries award, which MPIA Arbitrator Joost Pauwelyn told us about. And now Japan is joining the arrangement, as METI just announced: More than three years have passed since the

The MPIA: What's New (Part III)

Now that I addressed what the MPIA is and whether/how it works, let me turn to the third, and final, post in this series: What are some of the novelties that can be found in the first MPIA procedure? The list of eight items below is limited to procedural/

One More Time on Manufacturing and Trade Balances

Rob Atkinson was nice enough to respond to my post on manufacturing and trade balances. I have thoughts on a lot of the points he made, but to keep the debate as simple and clear as possible, I'm going to try to focus on a few key issues,

The MPIA: What's New? (Part II)

In my first post of last week, I briefly explained what the MPIA is. In this second post, I ask the question whether the MPIA worked, now that the first MPIA appeal was filed. I also offer a roadmap with the key steps of the MPIA process. Did it Work?

How Deliberation Can Help the WTO, but Not Fix It

This week, the European Union circulated a proposal for WTO reform focusing on the organization’s deliberative function. The EU is upfront and direct in saying that its top priorities for reform are still the same—getting dispute settlement back online, building on multilateral and plurilateral negotiations, and the development

Manufacturing and Trade Balances: A Response from Rob Atkinson

This is a response from Rob Atkinson of ITIF to my post on Manufacturing and Trade Balances: Recently Simon Lester and I got in a Twitter debate about the importance of the trade deficit and manufacturing. Interesting as far as these things go, but at some point you can only

The MPIA: What’s New? (Part I)

On 21 December 2022, more than two and a half years after its creation, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) finally produced its first appellate award.[1] The inaugural MPIA award was issued in a dispute filed by the EU in November 2019

Manufacturing and Trade Balances

Recently, I tweeted this about the trade balance: Ro Khanna's Twitter bio says "Trade surplus again." I wish people would think more deeply about the trade balance. Here are some good pieces to read: https://cato.org/blog/trade-deficit-disorder… https://cato.org/testimony/americas-misunderstood-trade-deficit… https://cato.