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Giorgio Sacerdoti Letter to the WSJ in Response to Lighthizer's Op-Ed

Giorgio Sacerdoti sent along the following letter he wrote in response to the Lighthizer WSJ op-ed from last month: Letter to the Editor, Wall Street Journal Milan, 29 August 2020 Dear Mr Lemmer, It was refreshing for all those who believe in the advantages of a multilateral rule-based trading system
Simon Lester 23 Sep 2020 2 min read

International Trade Law Norms and the Ethics of Covid-19 Vaccine Distribution

International Trade Law Norms and the Ethics of Covid-19 Vaccine Distribution Steve Charnovitz 21 September 2020 One of the enduring contributions of international trade law is the idea that developing countries, especially the least developed countries, should receive affirmative action from the trading system.  According to the WTO Secretariat, “The
Charnovitz 21 Sep 2020 3 min read

What Would Biden Do About China's Trade Practices?

This is from a CNN Town Hall last week: GARRY HARTMAN, BUSINESSMAN: Vice President Biden, Cheetah Chassis is located in Berwick, Pennsylvania, where we produce intermodal container chassis. We're a small family-owned business that is facing unfair trade container chassis imports from, we'll call, a massive
Simon Lester 21 Sep 2020 1 min read

Webinar — Investment Protection under the New NAFTA: Problems and Prospects

If you are not webinar'd out at this point, and if you can remember the USMCA, which seems like ages ago, here are the details on a Webinar I'll be participating in this Thursday with the Baker Institute at Rice University: At this webinar — the second
Simon Lester 21 Sep 2020 1 min read

The Elephant in the Room: The Missing Claim in DS543

The outcome of the Panel decision in the case of Section 301 Tariffs against China (DS543) is unsurprising - few would have expected that the United States could successfully invoke the public moral exception under GATT XX(a) to justify its Section 301 tariffs. But the Panel Report does contain
Julia Qin 18 Sep 2020 3 min read

Panel Report on Section 301 Tariffs Against China (DS543)

The panel report in United States - Tariff Measures on Certain Goods from China (DS543) was circulated today. There are some big picture issues related to the dispute (e.g., will the U.S. appeal it into the void?), but I want to focus on an obscure interpretive point related
Simon Lester 15 Sep 2020 2 min read

If Everything Is Industrial Policy, Is Anything Industrial Policy?

Law professor Ganesh Sitaraman has a piece arguing in favor of an industrial policy for the United States. He laments that "[o]ver time, industrial policy ultimately became the Lord Voldemort of economics, so evil and dangerous that it must not be named," and he wants to make
Simon Lester 15 Sep 2020 3 min read

Joe Biden on NAFTA/China/Trade in General

This is from an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper that aired yesterday: TAPPER: Don't you think that one of the reasons why President Trump has been able to appeal to the blue-collar workers that you talk about is because of his message on trade? And that
Simon Lester 11 Sep 2020 7 min read

Rethinking ISDS: Australia vs. UNCITRAL

Back in May, UNCITRAL published a Note by the Secretariat on "Resources to implement the work programme with respect to investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) reform." I was surprised to read this part: 24. Under the current pattern of meetings, Working Group III meets twice a year for a
Simon Lester 11 Sep 2020 2 min read

Is Lighthizer a Protectionist?

Someone asked him that question at a recent event and here's what he said (starts around 45:30) Q: “Are you a protectionist?” A: “Well, you see, that’s interesting. So, what actually does that mean? That’s why when I started out I sort of said, and
Simon Lester 11 Sep 2020 2 min read

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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

The Section 301 Surge Is Upon Us: Investigating Excess Capacity and Production

The first of a large batch of expected Section 301 investigations has arrived, as USTR announced yesterday that it was initiating investigations on acts, policies, and practices of various countries/economies "relating to structural excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors."
12 Mar 2026 3 min read

Debunking the "Hyperglobalization" Trade Policy Myth

Policy is often shaped by narratives, and recently there has been a bipartisan effort to create a narrative that, starting in the early 1990s, globalization and free trade went too far.
03 Mar 2026 8 min read

Guest Post: Are President Trump’s New Section 122 Tariffs Legal?

This is a guest post from Bryan Riley and Joe Bishop-Henchman. Bryan is Director of the Free Trade Initiative at the National Taxpayers Union; Joe is Executive Vice President at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation President Trump has issued new 10% tariffs, shortly after raised to 15%, based on Section
24 Feb 2026 6 min read

Section 122 as a (Partial) Replacement for the IEEPA Tariffs

Apparently, this is the era of dusting off old international economic policy statutes and figuring out what they mean and how they work. After the Supreme Court's ruling today in Learning Resources, holding that "IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs," we are now
20 Feb 2026 5 min read

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