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U.S. Trade Politics

57 posts

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 access

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 U.S. trade

Ron DeSantis on China Trade

Unfortunately, U.S. election season is upon us, and perhaps it would be useful if I documented the presidential candidates' statements on trade. That's mostly going to feature the Republican presidential hopefuls (and hopelesses, if that's a word!), but if Biden says anything new and

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

Trade Agreement Transparency for the New Year

This is post one of two on trade agreements in the news over the last ten days. Many will know that the president signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act in the days before Christmas. Like several recent big legislative packages, this one contains some important trade-relevant provisions. I

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

The President’s (and USTR’s) Trade Agreement Authority: From Fisheries to IPEF

This is a post by Kathleen Claussen and Tim Meyer. It is cross-posted on Lawfare. Over the last few years, separation-of-trade-law-powers questions have grown in importance. We know the basics: according to the Constitution, the regulation of commerce with foreign nations is expressly and unmistakably a congressional prerogative. Treaty-making, on

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.