Law Commons^™

Energy Trade And The National Security Exception To The Gatt, Donald N. Zillman

Faculty Publications

Three topics combine in this paper: international trade, national security, and energy. The specific focus of the paper is the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the "essential security interests" exception contained in Article XXI. The provisions of the GATT set out the structure of a system to encourage international trade by reducing tariffs and other trade barriers. More broadly, many aspects of international trade in energy have developed outside the structure of GATT or with the implied assumption that Article XXI or another GATT exception would take them out of normal GATT arrangements. National security matters have …