What Does the Blue Wave Mean for U.S. Trade Policy?
Tariffs and trade policy were one element that played a role in last night's result. So what impact will Democratic control of Congress have on the administration's trade policy going forward?
Topic
U.S. Trade Policy
33 posts
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.
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.
What happens to all the frameworks, deals, and agreements negotiated by USTR since April 2, 2025?
With the Supreme Court ruling (6-3) that the President lacks inherent peacetime authority to impose tariffs under IEEPA, the question is what happens to the trade/security deals (informal and formal agreements) negotiated in the shadow of the IEEPA tariffs? This post explains how the US has sought to
The USMCA Rapid Response Mechanism: What Do Workers Expect?
I want to thank Kathleen Claussen for succinctly summarizing last week’s Second USMCA Rapid Response Labor Panel. Many of us missed the panel discussion while participating in the fantastic ASIL International Economic Law Interest Group Biennial Conference (my kudos to the organizers).
Professor Claussen points out the Mexican government’
Collective Economic Security
Collective Economic Security
By Mona Paulsen (LSE Law) and Dan Ciuriak (C.D. Howe (Senior Fellow))
With a flurry of pomp and circumstance, the second Trump administration has reset United States trade with its trading partners. Based on U.S. laws that afford wide Executive discretion towards trade actions owing
Security Exceptions Redux
In April 2017, the US Secretary of Commerce initiated an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to evaluate the effect of imported steel and aluminium on national security. In 2018, the United States imposed Section 232 tariffs on foreign steel and aluminium products from several
Whither the Worker-Centered Trade Policy?
The Biden administration changed U.S. trade policy significantly when it adopted a “worker-centered” trade policy that justified entering into “frameworks” and not trade agreements. That policy didn’t win many accolades from the trade crowd. Many critics felt that it forewent critical opportunities by refusing to discuss market
The U.S. “Worker-Centered Trade Policy” is helping some workers in Mexico but not in America
This Labor Day post seeks to shed light on the Biden administration’s “worker-centered” trade policy. It argues that the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA) misses a critical opportunity to strengthen workers’ rights in America. The agreement’s provisions exclude protections for the most vulnerable workers in
The New U.S.-Taiwan Trade Agreement and Its Approval
This post is by Kathleen Claussen & Timothy Meyer. It is cross-posted on Lawfare.
On June 1, the United States and Taiwan signed a new trade deal. The agreement, which spans eight chapters and 75 pages in the English version, creates obligations for both parties to enhance trade facilitation,