International Trade Law Commons^™

The Wto Constitution: Tertiary Rules For Intertwined Elephants, Joel P. Trachtman

ExpressO

Constitutions have many dimensions. These dimensions include at least the following:

• an economic constitution in the sense of a set of rules for exchange of value and authority,

• an interfunctional constitution that allows for the integration of various social values,

• a political constitution that reflects the cultural and democratic integrity of a group of people,

• a legal and judicial constitution that provides rules for the making of other rules, and for determining supremacy and the scope of judicial application of rules,

• a human rights constitution that limits the sphere of governmental authority, and

• a …

Ubi Remedium, Ibi Ius At The Wto, Joel P. Trachtman

ExpressO

The WTO law of remedies for violation appears incoherent. States that fail to comply with their obligations are subject to WTO-authorized retaliation. First, this retaliation takes the inefficient form of blocked trade by the complaining state. This remedy is unlikely to be useful to developing countries. Second, the amount of trade blocked by the violation is often used as the measure of authorized retaliation. This measure is not necessarily incentive compatible, as it is not necessarily linked to welfare. Thus, its use may result in inefficient breach, or inefficient compliance, with WTO law. Third, only states that engage in dispute …

An Analysis Of The Duties And Obligations Of The International Legal Community To The Eradication Of Poverty And Growth Of Sustainable Development In Light Of The Jus Cogens Nature Of The Declaration Of The Right To Development, Freda R. Murray-Bruce

ExpressO

This paper examines the copious problem of world poverty affecting half of the world’s population in the South and assesses the international legal obligations of the international legal community, viz., developed states, transnational corporations and the international financial institutions of the IMF, World Bank and WTO to the eradication of poverty and the growth of sustainable development, in view of the inviolability and peremptory nature of the Charter of the UN, and the international human rights provisions arising therefrom. To this extent, we examine the 1986 General Assembly Declaration on the Right to Development, along with the other International Bill …

Bilateralism Under The World Trade Organization, Y.S. Lee

ExpressO

This paper addresses fundamental issues in the legal framework for international trade today, namely the proliferation of bilateralism under the multilateral framework of the GATT/WTO system. The GATT/WTO system requires non-discriminatory treatment in trade relations among all nations, but bilateral/regional trade arrangements that provide exclusive trade preferences have increased in recent years. This paper examines the consistency of these bilateral/regional arrangements with the requirements of WTO disciplines and explores the ways to achieve convergence between bilateralism and multilateralism in international trade today.

Working Borders: Linking Debates About Insourcing And Outsourcing Of Capital And Labor, Chantal Thomas

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Western Institution Building: The War, Hayek’S Cosmos And The Wto, M. Ulric Killion

ExpressO

Despite the shortcomings of Hayek’s spontaneous order, there is a positive side, perhaps even a positive feedback. Hayek left us with a “what if” question and returns us to that initial opening of Pandora’s Box, or perhaps the initial onset of neo-realism, neo-liberalism, developmentalism, globalism, transnationalism and other concepts, precepts and adjectives justifying institution building by bargaining and military force. In terms of new world order, institution building by necessity requires fundamental changes in governmental structures in non-western cultures and nation-states such as China, Afghanistan and Iraq. Such changes are being prompted by means of political, economic and military powers …

Battle Of The Beef, The Rematch: An Evaluation Of The Latest E.C. Directive Banning Beef Produced With Growth Hormones And The U.S. Refusal To Accept The Directive As Wto Compliant, Darrel Chichester

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bilateral Investment Treaties And The Possibility Of A Multilateral Framework On Investment At The Wto: Are Poor Economies Caught In Between, Victor Mosoti

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The increased Foreign Direct Investment ("FDI") flows in the past few years have strengthened the belief among many developing countries, especially African countries, that such FDI flows could help in reducing the resource, technology and foreign exchange gaps that constrain their economic development. As a result, many developing countries have beendiligently working to attract foreign investment, for which these countries give some of the highest returns; in the process, these countries make concessions that they would have found unthinkable in the past, when autarchic economic policies were prevalent. For example, due to the liberalization of capital accounts, a foreign investor …

Labor Standards In Recent U.S. Trade Agreements, William (Bud) Clatanoff

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

The $4 Billion Question: An Analysis Of Congressional Responses To The Fsc/Eti Dispute Under Wto Export Subsidy Standards, William Chou

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

During the decade-long relationship between the United States and the World Trade Organization (WTO), perhaps no controversy has fomented as long and bitterly as the dispute over the U.S. tax benefits for exporters. This article analyzes two competing bills before the House of Representatives, both devised to bring the United States in compliance with the WTO's ruling against the U.S. Foreign Sale Corporation (FSC) and Exterritorial Income (ETI) tax regimes as prohibited export subsidies. Hit with a $4 billion retaliatory tariff by the European Union, the House sought new tax legislation that would preserve at least some of the tax …

The Cotton And Sugar Subsidies Decisions: Wto's Dispute Settlement System Rebalances The Agreement On Agriculture, Stephen J. Powell, Andrew Schmitz

UF Law Faculty Publications

As far back as David Ricardo's shattering insight as to comparative advantage in 1817, agriculture has enjoyed special favor in trade. The unique place of farming was so well established by the time the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GATT") was negotiated that GATT's tight disciplines on government interference with free trade not only exempted government protections to growers, but in fact were drafted to be fully consistent with the agricultural policies of the major signatories. While it would be an exaggeration to argue that GATT' s first half century was without impact on agricultural benefits, the sector …

International Trade Agreements: Vehicle For Better Public Health?, David P. Fidler, Jason Sapsin, Ann Marie Kimball

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Sutherland Report And Dispute Settlement, Mark L. Movsesian

Faculty Publications

Ten years after the organization's founding, an air of disappointment surrounds the WTO. The great promise of a global trade regime, dedicated to the principle of comparative advantage, seems to have stalled. The Doha Development Round, launched in 2001 in an attempt to redeem the disastrous Seattle Ministerial Conference of 1999, has been stymied by familiar disputes between North and South, mostly with respect to agricultural issues, but with respect to nonagricultural market access and services as well. Frustrated by impasses at the WTO, members have increasingly bypassed the organization in favor of discrete "preferential trade agreements", or PTAs, that …

The Promotion Of Free-Trade Areas Viewed In Terms Of Most-Favored-Nation Treatment And Imperial Preference, Sydney M. Cone Iii.

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Let's Stick Together (And Break With The Past): The Use Of Economic Analysis In Wto Dispute Litigation, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

The treatment of a number of issues that are being routinely discussed in WTO dispute settlement practice could benefit substantially, were economists to be institutionally implicated in the process. As things stand, the participation of economists in dispute settlement proceedings is infrequent and erratic: for all practical purposes, it depends on the discretion of WTO adjudicating bodies. There is indirect evidence that recourse to such expertise has been made, albeit on very few occasions. Institutional reforms are necessary; otherwise, it seems unlikely that the existing picture will change in the near future. A look into ongoing negotiations on the DSU …

Uberregulation Without Economics: The World Trade Organization's Decision In The U.S.-Mexico Arbitration On Telecommunications Services, General Agreement On Trade In Services, Gats, J. Gregory Sidak, Hal J. Singer

Federal Communications Law Journal

In April 2004, a World Trade Organization ("WTO") arbitration panel found that Mexico had violated its commitments under the Annex on Telecommunications to the General Agreement on Trade in Services ("GATS") by failing to ensure that Telmex, Mexico's largest supplier of basic telecommunications services, provide interconnection to U.S. telecommunications carriers at international settlement rates that were costoriented. The WTO panel deemed long run average incremental cost ("LRAIC") to be the appropriate cost standard for setting settlement rates. Mexico thus became obliged to change its domestic telecommunications regulations or face trade sanctions. The decision is the first WTO arbitration to deal …

The Law In Action At The Wto, Spencer Weber Waller

ExpressO

This review of Gregory Shaffer's new book "Defending Interests: Private-Public Partnerships in WTO Litigation" argues that Shaffer has made an important contribution to the field of international economic law. Shaffer does this by using the insights of legal realism and strong empirical work to illustrate "the law in action" rather than "the law on the books" in terms of how international trade cases in the WTO are actually generated and resolved.

Fishing For Rainbows, The Fsc Repeal And Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act, Stuart Smith

San Diego International Law Journal

On August 30, 2002, the final decision was released in the case of United States-Tax Treatment for "Foreign Sales Corporations". The World Trade Organization arbitration panel report authorizes the European Communities to levy $4.043 billion in annual trade sanctions against imports from the United States because of a provision in the U.S. tax code. "The FSC Repeal and Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act of 2000", the most recent of 40 years worth of half-hearted attempts by the United States to comply with world trading body regulations, is the current offender. According to the arbitration panel, the act subsidizes foreign sales by …

Test Of Multilateralism In International Trade: U.S. Steel Safeguards, Y.S. Lee

ExpressO

The highly publicized safeguard measures applied by the United States to an array of steel products in 2002 became one of the biggest and the most controversial trade disputes in recent history. Virtually all major trading nations in the world, including European Communities, Japan, China, Brazil, Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland and Norway were the direct parties to this dispute with the United States. The contentious legal grounds of the U.S. safeguard measures as well as the lack of adequate consultations between the United States and its trading counterparts have brought the international community close to a full-scale trade war. This …

Trade And Human Rights: The Future Of U.S.-Vietnamese Relationships: Hearing Before The S. Comm. On Foreign Relations, 108th Cong., Feb. 12, 2004 (Statement Of Viet D. Dinh, Prof. Of Law, Geo. U. L. Center), Viet D. Dinh

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.

Beggar-Thy-Neighbor? Why The Wto Appellate Body’S Enforcement Of A Rigorous “Parallelism Requirement” Limits The Exemption Of Regional Trade Agreement Partners From The Application Of Safeguard Measures, Jordan Taylor

ExpressO

The recent WTO Appellate Body decision in U.S. – Steel Safeguards provided a new wrinkle in the AB’s treatment of Regional Trade Agreement members who seek to exempt each other from the application of safeguard measures. Previously, the AB had supported a rigorous “parallelism requirement” compelling Members to equate the scope of the countries investigated with the scope of the countries upon which the safeguard measures would be applied before it would consider whether Article XXIV provided an affirmative defense permitting the exclusion of RTA partners from the application of such measures. Where there was an impermissible “gap” as between …

Changing Notions Of Sovereignty And Federalism In The International Economic System: A Reassessment Of Wto Regulation Of Federal States And The Regional And Local Governments Within Their Territories, Edward T. Hayes

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

International trade liberalization increasingly addresses disciplines which fall within the constitutional competence of regional and local governments. Traditional notions of nation/state sovereignty are evolving to recognize the importance of regional and local actors on the international economic scene. The ongoing evolution of international trade and sovereignty incresasingly places regional and local governments in a unique position to influence world trade, positively and negatively.

This article explores the manner in which the World Trade Organization attempts to regulate regional and local behavior. Specifically, this Article explores the inherent constitutional tension and resulting ambiguities in the WTO's effort to regulate regional and …

The Spirit Of Trips And The Importation Of Medicines Made Under Compulsory License After The August 2003 Trips Council Agreement, Jessica J. Fayerman

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement has changed prospects for access to necessary medications in the developing world. The use of compulsory licensing for pharmaceutical products embodied in Article 31 of TRIPS has been a contentious issue. Prior to 2003, countries with no manufacturing capacity of their own were not allowed to import medicines made under compulsory license, rendering the protections of Article 31 of little use to them. The 2003 Motta Agreement changed this. This expansion of the compulsory licensing power is both an impractical solution and it dilutes the premises upon which TRIPS was originally …

Trips' Rebound: An Historical Analysis Of How The Trips Agreement Can Ricochet Back Against The United States, Donald P. Harris

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Recently, scholars and commentators around the world have reexamined the role intellectual property rights (IPRs) play in hindering or helping developing countries. These scholars have questioned the doctrine the IPRs help developing countries by promoting economic development, increasing foreign direct investment, stimulating domestic innovation, and improving access to new technologies, and have concluded that imposing "Western-styled" intellectual property regimes (e.g., the U.S. patent regime) on developing countries harms those countries. In particular, such regimes fail to bring any of the purported benefits, while they impose many costs, including preventing people from obtaining life-saving drugs. This Article argues that it is …

Test Of Multilateralism In International Trade: U.S. Steel Safeguards, Y.S. Lee

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The highly publicized safeguard measures applied by the United States to an array of steel products in 2002 became one of the biggest and most controversial trade disputes in recent history. Virtually all major trading nations in the world, including the European Community, Japan , China , Brazil , Korea , New Zealand , Switzerland and Norway , were the direct parties to this dispute with the United States . The contentious legal grounds of the U.S. safeguard measures, as well as the lack of adequate consultations between the United States and its trading counterparts, have brought the international community …

Injury Investigations In "Material Retardation" Antidumping Cases, Prakash Narayanan

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Despite the criticisms of economists to antidumping measures, they continue to be the most often used trade remedy measure. A new trend that may be observed is the use of the "material retardation" standard of injury to demonstrate injury to domestic industry that is one of the requirements for imposing antidumping duty. It is essential to be wary of this trend as unlike the other two types of injury, the WTO lacks specific guidelines for the use of this standard. The general rules in the Antidumping Agreement are unsuitable for the situations where the material retardation standard is relevant, and …

International Decision: United States--Continued Dumping And Subsidy Offset Act Of 2000, Mark L. Movsesian

Faculty Publications

This brief article is a report of an international decision of the World Trade Organization Appellate Body on January 16, 2003, concerning the United States’ Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (WT/DS217 & 234/AB/R). Eleven WTO members—Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the European Communities, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Thailand—filed a challenge to the Byrd Amendment in the summer of 2001. A WTO dispute settlement panel, agreeing with the complaining parties, made two major findings. First, the panel concluded that the Byrd Amendment constitutes an impermissible specific action against dumping and subsidization under the Antidumping and SCM Agreements. …

Against Global Governance In The Wto, John O. Mcginnis, Mark L. Movsesian

Faculty Publications

In "Global Governance and the WTO," Professor Andrew Guzman has done an impressive job of articulating a vision of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that many international lawyers share. In this vision, the WTO's mission should be expanded beyond its present task of facilitating tariff reductions and preventing covert protectionism. Rather, the WTO should take on substantive authority in a wide variety of non-trade areas, including the environment, labor, human rights, and public health. Unlike many people who share this vision, Guzman takes the time to describe how it might best be accomplished. He advocates specialized WTO departments and periodic …

Should The World Trade Organization Incorporate Labor And Environmental Standards?, Chantal Thomas

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Case For Tradable Remedies In Wto Dispute Settlement, Kyle Bagwell, Petros C. Mavroidis, Robert W. Staiger

Faculty Scholarship

In response to concerns over the efficacy of the WTO dispute settlement system, especially in regard to its use by developing countries, Mexico has tabled a proposal to introduce tradable remedies within the Dispute Settlement Understanding. The idea is that a country that has won cause before the WTO, and who is facing non-implementation by the author of the illegal act but feels that its own capacity to exercise its right to impose countermeasures is unlikely to lead to compliance, can auction off that right. The attractiveness of this idea is that it offers an additional possibility to injured WTO …