International Trade Law Commons^™

Introduction To The Oral History Project Of The World Trading System: The Story Of John H. Jackson And His Unique Role, Jennifer A. Hillman

The Oral History Project of the World Trading System

Georgetown Law has been fortunate to have so many pathbreaking professors teaching, researching, and writing here. For those in the international trade arena, none stands taller than Professor John H. Jackson, who came to Georgetown in 1998 after a storied teaching career at the University of Michigan and immediately set to work with his singular ability to bring together scholars, students, government officials, and practitioners to examine the trade challenges of the day from every angle—always looking to develop innovative ideas and practical solutions.

Immediately upon arrival at Georgetown, Professor Jackson created the Institute of International Economic Law (IIEL)—one of …

Three Decades Of Supreme Court Copyright Decisions: A Peek Behind The Scenes, Jonathan Band

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

This article discusses the revelations in the case files of eight Supreme Court Justices concerning eighteen copyright-related decisions issued by the Court between 1973 and 2005. The papers show the Court as a profoundly human institution, with the Justices often struggling to craft opinions that could gain the support of a majority. The Justices clearly cared about the copyright merits, but they were also willing to compromise to achieve a certain result. In several cases, the final opinion was anything but inevitable. This was particularly so with Sony Corporation of America v. Universal City Studios, 464 U.S. 417 (1984), …

The Hidden Strategy Behind Trump’S Latest Canada Tariffs, Marc L. Busch, Barry Appleton

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Donald Trump’S Latest Tariffs Are Part Of A New Trade Strategy. The U.S. Has A Much Bigger Target Than Our Wine And Cheese, Barry Appleton

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

What The Supreme Court Didn’T Answer About Trump’S Section 301 Tariffs |, Marc L. Busch, Barry Appleton

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Cox V. Sony: Let’S Call Gershwin Off, Jonathan Band

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

China Samr’S Review Process In Cross-Border Technology M&A, Gabriel A. Paknia

Honors Scholar Theses

China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) holds discretionary authority over the merger review process. This paper examines whether SAMR's review of technology and semiconductor transactions since the governing body's inception in 2018 reflects political-economic incentives beyond what competitive harm analysis alone would explain. The paper is broken into three core pillars: accessing SAMR's regulatory code to identify how flexibility to exercise discretion is codified, scrutinizing SAMR's full adverse outcome record for overrepresentation of technology and semiconductor deals, and deconstructing a semiconductor megamerger to illustrate those mechanisms with the backdrop of real time geopolitical events. I find that technology and …

Cognitive Warfare: Generative Ai, False Realities, And International Humanitarian Law, Gary Corn

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

This paper, written as a draft chapter for the Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare's forthcoming book on International Law and Artificial Intelligence in Armed Conflict: The AI-Cyber Interplay, explores the IHL implications of a specific subfield or category of AI—Generative AI (GenAI). This new and rapidly evolving technology does not merely analyze or classify data; it also generates original image, audio, and video content. This synthetic content can be highly deceptive and manipulative, as in the case of so-called “deepfakes.” Combined with other information and communications technologies (ICT) and AI capabilities, GenAI has the potential to drastically transform …

The Section 301 Surge Continues: Investigating The Adoption/Enforcement/Administration Of Forced Labor Import Bans, Desiree Leclercq

Faculty Datasets

This blog post critiques the March 12, 2026, announcement by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) launching a sweeping Section 301 investigation into 60 economies—including the European Union, Canada, and Mexico—for failing to effectively prohibit forced labor imports. While the U.S. claims these regulatory failures harm domestic commerce, the author argues that the investigation highlights deep flaws in American trade governance. Specifically, the critique outlines four primary deficiencies in the U.S. approach: inadequate Customs and Border Protection (CBP) procedures lacking independent oversight, a dramatic decline in CBP enforcement actions, mistargeted pressure against the EU despite its superior evidentiary …

Framing Harmonization: Illusion And Reality In The Riyadh Design Law Treaty, Christine Farley, Margo Bagley

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

From the outside, the Riyadh Design Law Treaty (RDLT) has long appeared as a modest administrative measure. Negotiated in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Trademarks (SCT), it has repeatedly been characterized as a ‘‘procedural treaty’’ concerned with filing formalities rather than substantive reform. The contrast with the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (GRATK Treaty) is striking. Both both treaties adopted in 2024 after 20+ years of negotiation. But only the GRATK Treaty attracted sustained scholarly and civil society engagement; the RDLT attracted almost none.

Liberal Trade And President Trump: Never The Twain Shall Meet, Joel Adu-Quaye, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

This paper seeks to distinguish between two consequences of the tariff policies enacted by both Trump administrations: (1) their adverse effects on free trade and (2) the existential damage inflicted upon the transnational institutions responsible for enforcing its rules and obligations. Although difficult to quantify the latter, there is an intuitive sense that this is what matters most. The global order appears to be shifting from a rule-based framework to one characterized by increasing disorder and unpredictability. Within this new world order, actions are permissible so long as they align with the, often ill-defined, national interests of powerful nations.

Trade, Tariffs, Sanctions, And Security: A Framework For Judicial Review, Cory Alexander Evans

UF Law Faculty Publications

National security and international trade, and their intersections, have become critical focuses for recent administrative action. It was once rare to invoke national security as a justification for tariffs and restriction on foreign investment, but it has now become increasingly common. Courts reviewing these measures have largely defaulted to deferential approaches developed in an earlier era—one in which such actions were infrequent and rarely litigated. But in an era where assertions of national security are more common, this dogmatic jurisprudential approach lacks coherence. A new framework is needed to better guide judicial review.

This Article proposes that new framework. It …

A ‘Digital Dominion’: Launching The Commonwealth Model Law On Digital Trade, Craig Atkinson

Centre for Digital Law

A legislative text published for the benefit of its 56 member countries, the Commonwealth of Nations officially adopted the Model Law on Digital Trade (MLDT) in September 2025. The Commonwealth MLDT addresses a persistent barrier to digital trade (i.e., all trade that is digitally ordered and/or digitally delivered): the laws of many jurisdictions do not sufficiently recognise the legal requirements of electronic commerce (e-commerce) and continue to emphasise paper-bases for commercial communications and transactions in domestic and cross-border contexts.

Resilient Dispute Resolution Systems For International Energy Conflicts, Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez

Faculty Scholarship

Energy-related conflicts are on the rise, spanning diverse issues such as the impacts of rare mineral mining on local communities, the impacts of sanctions on energy investments due to the Russia-Ukraine war, and the impacts of expanded subsidies on the electric vehicle and solar panel industries. Increasingly, companies, communities, and governments are clashing over the challenges of pursuing disparate and sometimes competing energy policies. This Article argues that dispute resolution mechanisms in the energy investment sector must be fundamentally rethought. Traditional semi-adjudicatory models, which focus on winners and losers, fail to accommodate the complex and multifaceted nature of contemporary energy …

Fisc Opinion Digest 2022 - 2025, Alejandra Gutierrez

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

This digest summarizes selected opinions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISC-R) regarding Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). It covers the FISC’s annual review of intelligence agencies’ Section 702 certifications and the FISC and FISC-R’s opinions related to the statutory definition of Electronic Communications Service Providers (ECSPs). Publicly available opinions are posted on the FISC website, and further resources are available through the Intel.gov IC on the Record Database, a website of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

The Foreign Commerce Power, Kathleen Claussen, Timothy Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

This Article is the first to scrutinize presidential trade authority under the Constitution. The Constitution grants the President no independent power to regulate foreign commerce. That conclusion, while apparent from a straightforward reading of Articles I and II, stands in stark contrast to executive conduct of U.S. trade policy in recent years. This Article traces the roots of this constitutional distortion to a confluence of doctrinal drift and academic oversight. Courts and commentators have increasingly relied on an expansive conception of executive power grounded in a perceived general foreign affairs authority. In doing so, they have blurred the line between …

Third Tri-National Meeting On Labour Rights - Report Of Recommendations For Upcoming Review Of The Cusma (Usmca, T-Mec), Mark Rowlinson, Sara Slinn

Conference Papers

The CUSMA-USMCA-T-MEC (CUSMA) Labour Chapter and its Facility-Specific Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) are key areas of focus in the ongoing review of CUSMA approaches. The third Tri-National Meeting on Labour Rights under CUSMA was held on December 9th and 10th, 2024, at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. This hybrid meeting brought together knowledgeable academics, organizations, and individuals from the three CUSMA partner countries to evaluate the Labour Chapter, particularly the RRM, and to discuss reform recommendations. This report summarizes the challenges and proposed reforms presented and discussed during this third Tri-National Meeting, building on recommendations from the two previous …

Fair Use In The Supreme Court: A Peek Behind The Scenes, Jonathan Band

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

Between 1975 and 1994, the Supreme Court considered five cases that involved fair use: Williams & Wilkins v. United States; Sony v. Universal City Studios; Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises; Stewart v. Abend; and Campbell v. Acuff-Rose. The papers of the Supreme Court Justices that decided these cases show the Court as a profoundly human institution with the Justices often struggling to fashion opinions that could gain the support of a majority. The Justices clearly cared about the copyright merits, but they were also willing to compromise to achieve a certain result. In several …

Global Supply Chain Resilience In Emerging Technologies: A Case Study Of Bitcoin Mining, Kishanthi Parella, Carla L. Reyes

Scholarly Articles

The United States has put into motion bold plans in critical and emerging technologies to bolster its national and economic security.  For example, the federal government created a national bitcoin strategic reserve and a stockpile of other cryptocurrency; while several states have committed to or are considering similar goals.  However, the security of these reserves is dependent on two types of supply chains within the Bitcoin mining industry: analogue supply chains, relating to the physical components needed for Bitcoin mining, and data supply chains, relating to the complex and layered logistical network of actors that create input into …

The Stored Communications Act At 40: Re-Examining Ecs And Rcs In The Age Of Ai, Shanzay Pervaiz

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

Shanzay Pervaiz, Senior Legal Researcher, examines the Stored Communications Act (SCA) almost forty years after its enactment, focusing on how its core definitions of “electronic communication service” (ECS) and “remote computing service” (RCS) play a central role in regulating domestic and global government access to data. The definitions still shape key U.S. authorities such as FISA Section 702, the CLOUD Act, and international instruments governing law enforcement access to data, including the Budapest Convention and the United Nations Convention on Cybercrime. The paper also looks at the legislative history of the SCA, how U.S. courts define ECS and RCS, and …

Workers’ Empowerment As U.S. Trade Policy, Desiree Leclercq

Scholarly Works

U.S. trade policy stands at an inflection point. The Biden administration’s “worker-centered” trade policy promised to empower foreign workers to improve employment and living standards globally, but it linked its trade assistance to political allies. The Trump administration’s “America First” trade policy promises to use tariffs and isolationism to protect and empower U.S. workers, but it is fostering antagonism rather than cooperation in trade. Both policies, while sharply diverging at the edges, recognize that U.S. trade policy affects employment opportunities in the United States. Both policies also critically overlook the relationship between the treatment of workers in trade partner countries, …

Rethinking Legal Models For Aligning U.S.-African Trade And The Afcfta, Katrin Kuhlmann

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The U.S.-African trade relationship has become increasingly volatile and conditional, with significant implications for supply chains, trade corridors, and regional and global markets. This relationship has historically been based on a unilateral, preferential legal approach through a trade preference programme – the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) – under which individual countries petition for eligibility to receive duty-free treatment. AGOA expired in September 2025 in the midst of U.S. tariffs, but in early 2026 the programme was retroactively reauthorised through December 2026, with further application subject to “modernisation” and alignment with the “America First” policy. While many see reauthorisation …

Between ‘Technology Futures’: How Standards Are Transforming Digital Trade Craig Atkinson Craig Atkinson, Craig Atkinson

Centre for Digital Law

Digital trade relies on technical standards. As information technologies advance, international digital standards make the technologies used in trade – or ‘tradetech’ – more interoperable, scalable, and secure.

A wide range of tradetech use cases depend on digital standards, including those for document formats, electronic signatures, digital identity, and cybersecurity. They also encompass system specifications for cross-border payments, electronic transferable records (ETRs), transportation/logistics, trade facilitation, and financial compliance.

Most digital standards are voluntary and are produced by international Standards Development Organisations (SDOs) alongside a growing number of industry-led consortia.

How The Supreme Court’S Inconsistent Approach To Granting Emergency Relief Will Exacerbate, Rather Than Mitigate The Disruption Its Emergency Stay Policy Is Supposed To Address, Harvey L. Reiter

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

The federal government has used the Supreme Court’s emergency or “shadow” docket to great effect this past year, securing stay after stay of lower court rulings that had blocked many of the President’s executive orders. But the Court’s rulings have come, almost invariably, without any explanation of its reasoning. And its opaque and uneven rulings have also come at a potential cost to the Court’s credibility. This Article illustrates the uneven nature of the Court’s rulings by contrasting two lines of cases: (1) the Court’s stays of lower court rulings restoring to their positions FTC, NLRB, EEOC, and MSPB members …

Privatising International (Organizations) Law, Melissa (M.J.) Durkee

Scholarship@WashULaw

This essay explores the increasing role of private commercial actors within international organizations (IOs) and the implications for international law. Once conceived as state-centred institutions, IOs now routinely involve corporations, trade associations, and philanthropic foundations in lawmaking, policy-setting, financing, and implementation. These actors participate through multiple channels: as observers, delegates, stakeholders, funders, and partners. While private involvement has historical precedents, its contemporary scale and formalization mark a significant transformation in global governance. International law, however, offers little guidance on the boundary between public and private authority, leaving legitimacy concerns unresolved. To evaluate privatization, the article identifies two competing logics: a …

Seeing International Organizations In A Shifting Landscape: Law, Practice, And Authority, Melissa (M.J.) Durkee

Scholarship@WashULaw

This book review symposium comes at a moment of visible strain in the postwar legal order. As of this writing, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has described a "rupture" in the rules-based world order, warning that multilateral institutions and the architecture of collective problem-solving are under threat. Notably, Carney issued that warning at the World Economic Forum in Davos, before an audience of "companies and countries." The setting underscores a broader shift in global governance, in which states, firms, and philanthropic actors increasingly occupy shared institutional spaces, unsettling assumptions about law and power at the international level. The books under …

Space Enterprises As International Lawmakers: Nudges, Pledges, And Other Bottom-Up Modalities, Melissa (M.J.) Durkee

Scholarship@WashULaw

Private entities are influencing the development of international space law. Space enterprises need regulatory certainty and consistent standards to attract capital and develop their plans for space. Yet, states have lagged in their capacity to make multilateral international space law in traditional public fora. Private entities have responded to this legal lag by attempting to create, develop, and nudge international space law in commerce-friendly ways. This chapter surveys a variety of modalities by which commercial actors can affect the development of international law, offers several examples of how commercial lawmaking efforts

How International Organizations Regulate Lobbyist Access, Melissa (M.J.) Durkee

Scholarship@WashULaw

This chapter explores how international organizations (IOs) regulate lobbyist access through participation frameworks rather than traditional lobbying laws. While no unified international lobbying regime exists, IOs use rules on NGO 'consultation' and 'engagement' to structure access. These rules, rooted in historical practices like the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) accreditation system, prioritize representativeness and legitimacy over transparency and accountability. As lobbying increasingly targets international forums, concerns about undue influence (the 'lobbying critique') and insufficient stakeholder inclusion (the 'access critique') have driven divergent reforms: some IOs, like the World Health Organization, have adopted stricter controls; others, such as the GAVI …

How The U.S. Constitution Shapes International Tax Law: Instrument Choice In Tax Agreements, Noam Noked, Young Ran (Christine) Kim, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

The U.S. Constitution’s Treaty Clause, which requires Senate approval by a two-thirds vote for treaties, has significantly influenced the development of international tax law. This Article examines the implications of Senate supermajority requirements on bilateral and multilateral tax treaties and agreements, alternative instruments, relevant international tax standards, and global tax governance.

Historically, tax treaties have been approved exclusively as Article II treaties requiring Senate approval. The difficulty of entering into treaties with the United States has influenced the instrument choice and design of U.S. and international tax standards. To address this challenge, several U.S. and international tax reforms have employed …

China’S Influence Over The Mining Industry In Africa, Safa M. Altamimi, Reda Amer

Undergraduate Research Symposium

How much influence does China have over the international supply of minerals from Africa? The purpose of this research is to study China’s involvement in Africa’s mining industry and analyze its impact on US economic interests. China has traded and invested in many mining sites across Africa; However, I will be focusing on DRC, Zambia, and Zimbabwe for my research. Using ArcGIS pro tools, I will create and analyze a map that contains information about mineral deposits and facilities.