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Questions about the 1982 Decision and Article XXI of the GATT

In 1982, the contracting parties adopted a Ministerial Declaration to take seriously the consideration of 'non-economic' trade measures. On 30 November 1982, the contracting parties adopted the Decision Concerning Article XXI of the General Agreement (the 1982 Decision) which set out some basic procedural guidelines for the
Mona Paulsen 10 Mar 2022 1 min read

House Approves Russian Energy Ban and Push for Russian WTO Suspension, But No U.S. MFN Withdrawal for Russia Yet

Late last night, the House passed a bill that would suspend Russian energy imports, but the bill had a proposed MFN withdrawal provision taken out (at the request of the White House apparently, although the reasons for this are not completely clear to me, as I've heard competing
Simon Lester 10 Mar 2022 2 min read

Ukraine and Russia at the WTO

Thanks to Bryce Baschuk of Bloomberg, who posted the documents on Twitter, we have a letter written by Ukraine to the Chair of the WTO General Council regarding cutting of trade with Russia, and a letter Russia wrote in response. It's the trade response of other countries to
Simon Lester 08 Mar 2022 3 min read

Fixing the WTO Dispute Settlement Crisis Requires U.S. Reform Proposals

Here's an excerpt from a short piece I wrote for IISD Trade and Sustainability Review about the WTO dispute settlement crisis: ... the key here, regardless of whether it is the Appellate Body specifically or dispute settlement more generally [that the U.S. is concerned with], is to make
Simon Lester 06 Mar 2022 1 min read

Senators Brown and Cassidy Introduce No Most Favored Nation Trading with Russia Act

U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) have introduced the No Most Favored Nation Trading with Russia Act "to revoke Russia’s most-favored-nation status." The full text is here (and here). It is mostly identical to the Blumenauer/Doggett bill discussed
Simon Lester 03 Mar 2022 1 min read

Canada Revokes MFN Status of Russia and Belarus

Legislating and regulating seems much easier in parliamentary systems. As the U.S. starts considering the competing Russia MFN withdrawal bills I've been discussing the past couple of days, Canada just went ahead and withdrew the MFN status of Russia and Belarus. This is what Deputy Prime Minister
Simon Lester 03 Mar 2022 2 min read

Ukraine Invokes National Security Exceptions at WTO: Complete Embargo and WTO Agreements No Longer Applied to Russia

Ukraine has sent a letter to the Chairman of the WTO's General Council, in which it says it will "impose a complete economic embargo and no longer apply the WTO agreements in its relations with the Russian Federation": On 24 February 2022 the Russian Federation committed
Simon Lester 03 Mar 2022 1 min read

Two Views on What To Do about Russia at the WTO

Jim Bacchus, writing in the WSJ, is pushing for expulsion: No specific WTO provision relates to expelling a member. Expulsion would be possible under Article X of the WTO agreement, however, if two-thirds of the WTO’s current 164 members vote to alter the agreement. If Russia were to
Simon Lester 03 Mar 2022 1 min read

Senator Wyden's “No Most Favored Nation Trading With Russia Act”

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) has introduced the No Most Favored Nation Trading with Russia Act. According to the press release, the bill "revokes Russia’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status and provides the president the power to raise tariffs on a host of Russian
Simon Lester 02 Mar 2022 1 min read

The Portman/Cardin Russia (and Others) NTR Withdrawal Trade Bill

Following up on Senator Portman's speech discussed here, Senators Portman and Cardin have introduced bipartisan legislation "to revoke free trade privileges from Russia and other countries that invade sovereign nations." They explain that "[t]he No Trading with Invaders Act would automatically revoke Permanent Normal
Simon Lester 02 Mar 2022 4 min read

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How Difficult Will It Be Politically To Remove Trump's Tariffs?

Heather Hurlburt, who was the Chief of Staff for U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai from 2022-2024, recently poured some cold water on the idea that Trump's tariffs might be removed quickly after he is out of office.
12 Aug 2026 3 min read

Why Section 338 Does Not Work in a GATT/WTO World: Lessons from Trade Law History

On July 21, 2026, President Trump exercised his authority under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (hereinafter Section 338) to impose the maximum amount of additional tariffs (fifty per cent) on Canadian cars, alcohol, and dairy, owing to his determination of Canada’s discriminatory treatment of US exports.
23 Jul 2026 10 min read

EU WTO Reform Proposal Seeks To Extend Accession-Based State Enterprise Rules To All Members

In a new WTO reform paper entitled "Further Reflections on Disciplines, Subsidies and Industrial policy," the EU argues for stronger WTO disciplines on the behavior of state enterprises.
17 Jul 2026 5 min read

Governments Make Their Case Against Section 301 Forced Labor Tariffs

Last month, USTR made a determination in 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."
10 Jul 2026 5 min read

How Should the EU Get Tough with China? Unilateral Action vs. WTO Complaints

I've seen several recent calls for the EU to get tougher in its economic relations with China, along with arguments that it has been too slow to act against the Chinese economic threat.
06 Jul 2026 4 min read

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