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This article examines the complexities and challenges associated with onshoring manufacturing through local content requirements within the context of World Trade Organization (WTO) law. Governments have intensified efforts to relocate production within their territories, leveraging local content requirements and incentives. This shift is primarily justified by the need for supply chain resilience, public health, and national security, aiming to mitigate risks associated with reliance on foreign suppliers during crises. However, these strategies may conflict with WTO obligations, particularly those concerning trade-related investment measures and subsidies. Using pharmaceuticals as a case study, this article explores the rationale, scope, and implications of WTO rules on local content policies. The analysis provides insights into how nations navigate the delicate balance between enhancing domestic capabilities and adhering to international trade laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, around 40 countries/economies, including G7 members, responded to impose a wide range of economic, including trade-related, sanctions on Russia. The question immediately arises as to whether such sanctions violate the WTO agreements or are justified under the relevant national security exceptions. After introducing the material facts of the economic sanctions against Russia as well as the development of WTO jurisprudence on national security exceptions – particularly Article XXI(b)(iii) of the GATT –, this article goes on to analyse the WTO consistency of these trade sanctions against Russia, on a country-by-country and a measure-by-measure basis. From the standpoint of the "war or other emergency in international relations" and "its essential security interests" requirements, countries are categorised according to their geographic proximity and relationship (e.g., military alliances, customs unions, etc) to the belligerents, while measures are categorised by their nature and aim from the standpoint of the "necessary to protect" requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commerce had become a “reason of state” in the eighteenth century. With the publication of Smith’s Wealth of Nations, the idea that free international trade was economically beneficial however gradually gained prominence. The long nineteenth century indeed saw timid – bilateral – attempts to implement the new politico-economic philosophy. Yet the First World War and the Great Depression destroyed almost all trade liberalisation already achieved, and the neo-mercantilist policies of the 1920s and 1930s seemed to turn the wheels of commerce backwards. Nonetheless: after the Second World War the belief that a peaceful world order could only be founded on a stable international economic order emerged strengthened; and a number of institutional attempts to liberalise – and harness – the world economy were immediately made, culminating in the creation of the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the question of whether the WTO enjoys a monopoly over the set tlement of trade disputes by examining th e historical context of the Dispute Settlement Understanding of the WTO, including early dispute resolution under the GATT and the goal behind the transformation leading to the WTO of curbing potential unilateralism within the trade regime. It argues that this culminated in the intention to create a centralized rule-based system for th e set tlement of disputes, rather than an intention to create a monopoly for the WTO. The article examines potential threats to the so-called monopoly, in particular with the proliferation of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAS) and th e development of Mutually Agreed Solutions (MAS). It also addresses relevant case law to demonstrate that the WTO does not and was not intended to enjoy a monopoly over trade disputes. Rather, the WTO pursues the objective of strengthening the multilateral trading system rather than encouraging unilateral trade action, which would not appear to be undermined by resort to the dispute settlement mechanisms of relevant RTAS or other dispute set tlement mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article undertakes an innovative analysis of the theoretical and practical bases of world trade law by employing the interactional international law theory developed by Jutta Brunnée and Stephen Toope, and the jurisprudence of Lon L. Fuller. There are two main reasons for choosing an interactional approach. Firstly, through the constructivist notion of shared understandings, it offers a suitable framework for identifying the social foundations of world trade in terms of economic and legal inputs into the system. Secondly, Fuller's contributions are acutely relevant to world trade law because of the economics foundation of his morality of law thesis, and his insightful reflections on fidelity to law, legality, and adjudication. Fuller's jurisprudence pays close attention to the limits of adjudicating institutional rules that apply to the allocation of economic resources. This makes it useful for discussing the procedural challenges facing the World Trade Organization compliance regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South-South trade has become a core component of the contemporary trade debate, but the idea of using preferential trade agreements among developing countries to foster industrialization and diminish dependence on the North has a long history. This article examines the North-South and South-South politics surrounding two efforts to operationalize this idea-the Protocol Relating to Trade Negotiations Among Developing Countries in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the Global System of Trade Preferences Among Developing Countries within the UN Conference on Trade and Development. It argues that the rich world has been somewhat obstructive in these efforts, but ultimately the primary cause for the weakness of these agreements is traced to failure by the Global South to make good on the rhetoric surrounding economic cooperation and South-South solidarity. Lessons from this history must be learned if current efforts to extend the GSTP are to bring greater benefits, particularly to the least developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) may serve as an apt critique for examination of international economic governance from a Third World angle, given its intimate concern for the welfare of these States in international law. TWAIL's critique has improved significantly in terms of quality and quantity. Nevertheless, the critique continues to be plagued by a fundamental shortcoming, namely it merely critiques international law systems and fails to provide suggestions for reforming them to suit the needs of Third World States. This is particularly true in relation to its critique of international economic governance. While TWAIL has produced numerous critiques of the foreign investment and international trade regimes since its emergence, these have failed to provide any constructive suggestions for improvement in these areas, TWAIL should therefore aspire to be more than a tool of system criticism and offer practical solutions to improve Third World States' place within this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A turning points analysis is used to capture the negotiating dynamics that occur within the structure of the GATT and the WTO. Ministerial/Council-level operations and Committee-level operations are distinguished. Within WTO Doha Development Agenda negotiations (2001-present), we isolate Ministerial/Council-level data and within GATT, we isolate Committee-level data by examining Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights negotiations conducted during the GATT Uruguay round (1985-1994) and at the WTO Doha Ministerial (2001). A detailed chronology of each case is compiled, followed by the identification of precipitants, departures and consequences, which are the three parts of a turning points analysis. We conclude that the precipitants that led to negotiation turning points in the Ministerial/Council environment are exclusively internal and generally procedural. The precipitants creating turning points within the Committee environment are generally internal and substantive. These conclusions have implications for our understanding of international environments and their impact on negotiation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How the League of Nations applied the concept of 'equitable treatment' in fostering international economic cooperation throughout the interwar period had practical consequences for both modern multilateral trade law and international investment law. The 'equitable treatment' clause constructed by a sub Commission of the League's Economic Committee in 1933 was later encapsulated in the non-violation nullification and impairment procedural remedy in multilateral trade law. Moreover, a number of scholars have noted that the 'fair and equitable treatment' (fet) clause found in the majority of international investment treaties may be connected to Article 23(e) of the Covenant of the League of Nations, emphasizing 'equitable treatment for the commerce of other Members of the League'. In light of these connections, a historical contribution that examines the League's understanding of 'equitable treatment' should resonate with scholars and policy makers. This article analyses the meaning and scope of the concept of 'equitable treatment' as it was elaborated by the League during the inter-war period. It finds that the flexible concept of 'equitable treatment' was a necessary ingredient in an inter-war multilateral framework that could adapt to rapidly changing economic circumstances. In addition to a brief historical background, the first part of this article explores how the concept of 'equitable treatment' was underlying the League's efforts to build an 'international community' to promote economic cooperation, broaden policy-making perspectives, and to achieve economic stability and growth, all without imposing rigid rules upon its Members. The second part of this article examines how a sub-Commission established during the 1933 World Financial and Economic Conference directly applied the concept of 'equitable treatment' as a flexible tool to protect the reciprocally guaranteed benefits arising from international commercial treaties, which reinforced its ambitions for a multilateral framework for international economic 'equilibrium.' The third part of this article studies how the drafting of the 'equitable treatment' clause by the sub-Commission helped to clarify its purpose and function as a flexible remedy at the time. The final part summarizes key lessons and identifies future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the pros and cons of the "new regionalism," with the negotiations for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) taken as a landmark. It summarizes the main features of the "new regionalism" and reviews some of the challenges and opportunities opened by North-South preferential trade agreements (a category that includes many of the new vintage of such agreements). The article also evaluates the record of the FTAA negotiations, emphasizing recent trends and prospects, especially the foundations of the current stalemate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calls for greater levels of protection for workers in the global economy have emerged as a repose to the growth of globally organised networks of production centred around the multinational corporation (MNC). The suggestion is made that, in this context, states, keen to attract foreign investment, are increasingly less able to enforce national labour standards. This paper considers the various debates and controversies that surround the issue of labour standards. I look at the way in which the debates have played out within the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and contrast this approach with the emergence of "self-regulatory" code of conduct based modes of MNC regulation. However, as a feminist researcher with interests in the subordination of female employment within the global economy, this paper also seeks to address the issue of how women's labour rights are being protected. A gender perspective on this issue is essential because of the massively important role of female employment in many of the globalized industries that have been at the heart of labour standards debate (in particular in clothing). It is noted that the emergence of an approach to international labour standards that embraces a human rights approach has, in practice, led to the emergence of very minimalistic definitions of labour standards that act to marginalise women's concerns as workers in global supply chains. Despite the limitations of codes of conduct as a mode of regulating labour standards, it is suggested that these codes do provide a space for the bringing in of gender concerns into the labour standards debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]