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U.S. Trade Policy

31 posts

What is a Free Trade Agreement, Anyway?

This is the second of two posts on trade agreements in the news over the last ten days. During the holidays, Treasury and the IRS confirmed what many had already been discussing since President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act in November: that they might take an expansive definition of

Questions about U.S. Trade Policy

Like many people, I have some questions about U.S. trade policy these days. I don't know if asking them publicly like this will get U.S. trade officials to answer, but it can't hurt to try! Here are four areas where I'd like

What Do the Midterm Elections Mean for U.S. Trade Policy?

Don't get too excited by the title of this post. The short answer to the question is, I don't know for sure, but probably not much. Nevertheless, I do have a couple thoughts here that may or may not be correct. First, I suspect the Biden

Friend-shoring

Friend-shoring. Secretary Yellen’s remarks of April 13, 2022 spoke of “friend-shoring” – a commitment to work with countries that “have strong adherence to a set of norms and values about how to operate in the global economy and about how to run the global economic system.” Friend-shoring is not new.

Fit for Whose Purpose?: How Panelists Interpret Labor Rights in Trade, and What That Tells Us about the Trade/Labor Relationship

While many of us were celebrating the holidays with family, an important law review article dropped silently and inconspicuously into the fray. That article, Fit for Purpose: The Extent and Enforcement of International Trade Agreement Labor Obligations After Guatemala – Labor Obligations Decision, was written by Professor Kevin Banks, who served

Commerce Secretary Raimondo on Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariffs

If any doubts remained six months into the Biden Administration that the Administration would be any less protectionist or “Buy American” oriented than its predecessor, they were largely laid to rest by recent comments from Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in an interview with Bloomberg News *[1] (reported in World Trade

The Beginning, End, and Imminence of Invoking Essential Security at the WTO

With the release of the latest US submission in United States-Origin Marking Requirement (DS597), it is worth thinking about one of the open questions of the GATT security exceptions in today’s climate – what does it mean to take action “in time of” an emergency in international relations? Security exceptions

Biden’s Worker-Centered Trade Policy: Whose Workers?

As Simon mentioned in an earlier post, various labor-related complaints and requests under USMCA are “heating up.” This activity reinforces the Biden Administration’s new “worker-centered trade policy” that, according to USTR Ambassador Katherine Tai, “will foster broad-based, equitable growth, increase innovation, and give workers a seat at the table.

Mini-Deals: A First Look at the World of Trade Executive Agreements

With the deadlines now having passed for moving the UK and Kenya agreements through the 2015 Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) process, there has been some talk about pursuing instead more “skinny” or “mini”-deals especially given that the prospects of renewing TPA remain in doubt. Even apart from TPA, additional

How to Save WTO Dispute Settlement from the Trump Administration

How to Save WTO Dispute Settlement from the Trump Administration Steve Charnovitz The Trump Administration is trying to torpedo the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement system. According to the November 2, 2017 Wall Street Journal article "Has China Swallowed the WTO" by Jacob M. Schlesinger, "The