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Binding Precedent and Precedential Value

The WTO panel report in India - Sugar and Sugarcane, circulated earlier this week, has a number of interesting passages about the role of precedent. They are a bit disconnected, and for some of them all I have is the panel's summary rather than the full statement from the
Simon Lester 17 Dec 2021 4 min read

From Grievances to Guarantees: Getting to Yes in the Iran Nuclear Talks

(This post is co-authored with Ruti Teitel, Ernst C. Stiefel Professor of Comparative Law at New York Law School and a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations) After a long hiatus that followed a change in Iran’s political leadership (and something of a  rocky start in
Rob Howse 15 Dec 2021 4 min read

Non-Discrimination and the EV Tax Credits in the Build Back Better Act

There has been a lot of Twitter discussion about the possibility that the electric vehicle (EV) tax credits in the Build Back Better Act violate USMCA or WTO obligations. There are actually three components to these tax credits, and I thought it was worth doing a quick analysis of each
Simon Lester 14 Dec 2021 3 min read

Countering the "Unfettered Liberalization" Narrative

At a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event today, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the following: But I think that we have pursued a really unfettered liberalization policy for the past many years and decades. And it is part of what has brought us to this current reality
Simon Lester 09 Dec 2021 1 min read

(Untitled)

The draft agriculture text has nothing in it - What a laugh! I wonder if some of you have had a chance to look at the text produced by the Negotiating group on Agriculture for MC12 https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news21_e/agri_30nov21_e.htm The text
Brett Williams 08 Dec 2021 1 min read

Angela Ellard on Misperceptions in the US/Capitol Hill about the WTO

At an AEI/Brookings event yesterday, WTO DDG Angela Ellard spoke and offered some interesting insights into how people in the U.S. (and elsewhere) misunderstand the WTO: Neena Shenai: I wanted to turn to your perspectives on the WTO, given your experience and your personal experience on Capitol Hill.
Simon Lester 07 Dec 2021 1 min read

Tweaking the MPIA Procedures

The Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement Pursuant To Article 25 of the DSU is here. Annex 1 contains a set of Agreed Procedures that can be used for these arbitrations. Interestingly, the procedures agreed to recently in specific WTO disputes are deviating from Annex 1 in one  specific area.
Simon Lester 07 Dec 2021 2 min read

Guest Post: The Worst of Two Worlds: Why the US Blueprint for a Transatlantic Climate Club Authored by Todd Tucker & Tim Meyer Must Be Binned Immediately

This is a guest post by David Kleimann, PhD, writing in personal capacity. He wishes to thank Aaron Cosbey and Simon Lester for helpful comments on an early draft of this post. All errors remain the author’s alone. He would also like to thank Todd Tucker and Tim Meyer
Simon Lester 01 Dec 2021 24 min read

Three Forces of the World Trading System

On November 26, the World Trade Organization (WTO) General Council decided to indefinitely postpone the 12th Ministerial Meeting (MC12), which was scheduled to convene from November 30 to December 3 this year, due to “an outbreak of a particularly transmissible strain of the COVID-19 virus.”  The prospect of the
Sungjoon Cho 29 Nov 2021 3 min read

More Hurdles for the "Green Steel Deal"

This is from a CFR blog post by Jennifer Hillman and Alex Tippett on the "green steel deal": For the proposed U.S.-EU agreement on green steel and aluminum be successful, however, it will have to avoid several potential pitfalls. First, the deal cannot devolve into a
Simon Lester 29 Nov 2021 2 min read

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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

Trump Administration Decides Not To Extend USMCA for Another Term: What Does That Mean Exactly?

Today, as part of the first joint review of the USMCA, the three governments held a virtual meeting.
01 Jul 2026 4 min read

Competing Views of Sovereignty: The Haves vs. The Have Nots in AI (and Steel)

It's interesting to watch how political leaders craft narratives around economic competition that reflect their own country's strengths and weaknesses.
29 Jun 2026 4 min read

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