International economic law and policy blog

Latest — 08 Jan 2026

2025 Had the Most WTO Complaints Since 2019

Despite the ongoing crisis with the WTO Appellate Body, which has been only partially solved by the creation of the MPIA, 2025 saw a bit of an increase in the filing of requests for consultations under the DSU. Here's a snippet from our WorldTradeLaw.net page where we

Guest Post: Threat-Based Trade Remedies in the EU: Increasing Use Amid Urgent Climate Objectives

This is a guest post from Florin D. Dascalescu, Senior legal counsel at the European Investment Fund (EIF) Introduction This post is based on my recent article published in the Journal of World Trade (JWT),[i] which examines several legal concepts by using as an example the EU anti-subsidy (AS)

Is Foreign Antitrust Enforcement "Discriminatory" and "Anti-American"?

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust held a hearing in December on "Anti-American Antitrust: How Foreign Governments Target U.S. Businesses." There was a lot of talk at the hearing about how foreign regulations and regulators "discriminate" against American companies.

Questions about the Trump Administration's Trade Deals and Compatibility with WTO Obligations

An issue that has been raised in relation to the Trump administration's various trade deals is whether they are compatible with WTO obligations. GATT Article XXIV, along with the Uruguay Round Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV, sets out specific conditions that bilateral/regional deals on trade

The U.S. Comments On the MPIA and Treaty Interpretation

At the December 19 DSB meeting, the U.S. tied one of its broad criticisms of the WTO dispute settlement system to a recent criticism by another WTO Member of a specific MPIA award: • We would like to make one further point in response to the interventions we just heard

Call for Papers: 2026 ILA-ASIL EastMed-MENA Research Forum

This is from Anastasios Gourgourinis, George Dimitropoulos, and Marios Tokas: The 2026 ILA-ASIL EastMed-MENA Research Forum, organized by the International Law Association - Hellenic Branch and the American Society of International Law, invites paper proposals for its meeting on 9–10 July 2026 in Athens, Greece. The 2026 edition of

Scheduling Is the Ace in the Hole

by Carlo M. Cantore[1] & Petros C. Mavroidis[2] 1. Consensus as Insurance Against the Waning of MFN The WTO membership has been mulling over the legal status of completed JSIs (Joint Statement Initiatives). JSIs are not multilateral agreements. They could become plurilateral agreements, if the membership (including those

The U.S. Argument for Limiting MFN

In the communication to the WTO that I mentioned in the last post, the U.S. put forward a critique of the MFN principle: Most Favored Nation (MFN) Principle 3.1. The MFN principle, which seeks to prevent discriminatory trade practices and promote equal treatment among trade partners, was designed

Some Thoughts on Addressing Non-Market Policies and Practices through WTO Disputes

Earlier this week, the U.S. submitted a communication to the WTO entitled "On WTO Reform." There are a number of issues worth talking about in the document, but I want to highlight the sub-section on "Overcapacity and Overconcentration of Production."

Pennsylvania Court Finds Mexican Government Guilty of "Discrimination" Due To Its Subsidies

I'm always interested in how courts apply the concept of "discrimination" in the context of international trade, so I've been eagerly awaiting a Pennsylvania court decision in a case against Mexico.