International Economic Law and Policy Blog (Page 88)

International Economic Law and Policy Blog

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Is the Trump Administration Just Being Legal Realist?

I was intrigued by something former USTR general counsel Stephen Vaughn said in his Trade Talks podcast last November: there's an old school of law that goes back to the 20s at Yale called Legal Realism, and the Legal Realists were people who believed that what matters is

Another MPIA Arbitrator Nomination

This is an announcement from New Zealand last week: The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade today announced Dr Penelope Ridings as New Zealand’s nomination for the pool of arbitrators established under the WTO interim appeals arrangement. The Ministry welcomes the Cabinet decision to nominate Dr Ridings

Is International Trade Law the Problem?

The formidable Todd Tucker says that “The Green New Deal Has an International Law Problem.” I don’t think that the “green” aspects of a GND--meaning carbon taxes or permits and border tax adjustments--would have much of a problem. I’ll focus on the trade issues, and leave the investment

International Economic Law Virtual Book Talk Series

The American Society of International Law (ASIL) International Economic Law Interest Group is hosting a series of four virtual book workshops this summer showcasing recent publications by scholars in the field. Each workshop will be roughly an hour in length and will include commentary from the author and a discussant

Theorizing Precedent in International Law

In light of the discussions of precedent in the previous two posts, I thought it might be worth posting something from a piece by law professor Harlan Cohen entitled Theorizing Precedent in International Law (I think he has more coming on this issue): The ingredients discussed in Part III—sources,

The Arguments Before the Appellate Body on "Precedent" in U.S. - Stainless Steel (Mexico)

The "cogent reasons" standard set out by the Appellate Body in U.S. - Stainless Steel (Mexico) (see paras. 154-162) has come under a great deal of criticism. But I think it's worth taking into account what the Appellate Body was hearing from the participants to

Precedent in GATT Dispute Settlement

There has been a lot of talk recently about how the Appellate Body has elevated its past rulings to the level of "binding precedent," and this is in contrast to how things worked with GATT panels. Senator Hawley was picking up on that point when he said the

Two More Countries Join the MPIA

The Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement Pursuant to Article 25 of the DSU is up to 21 participants now: Ecuador and Nicaragua just joined. Other governments can join whenever they want, but if they want to be eligible to nominate candidates for the pool of arbitrators, they have 10 days

Competition, subsidies and trade remedies in the draft UK - EU FTA

The UK Government has made its version of an EU -UK FTA available to the public (link below), and not surprisingly it differs dramatically from the text proposed by the EU. I have restricted myself for now to a quick look at subsidies, competition and trade remedies. I say a

Searching for the Next Leader of the WTO

Steve Charnovitz 19 May 2020 The World Trade Organization (WTO) is under stress with all three of its governing branches suffering instability. Unfairly assaulted by the Trump Administration, the WTO's judicial branch has suffered a loss of its appellate court. The WTO's legislative branch is still