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Reforming National Treatment

The GATT's National Treatment obligation has been around for more than half a century, and is the central discipline governing the multilateral trading system. National Treatment has an unquestionable track record of success, but it's utility is diminishing with the rise of state capitalism. The core presumption of National Treatment is that sovereigns act as top down regulators of markets, but not as participants in the market. In the 21st century, however, countries are increasingly effectuating policy through market action. To defend the kind of market National Treatment envisioned, the text of the obligation needs to be expanded to capture entities operating under state influence. While reform of the GATT is impossible to consider, future trade agreements should consider a revised National Treatment, and shy away from simply incorporating the existing GATT Article III.

Here's a proposal on how to do that.

Picking tariff winners without violating MFN.

Click here for my paper on how you can defend offering a tariff advantage for ethanol that's conditioned on a life cycle analysis of its green house gas emissions. Bonus: the argument doesn't rely on Article XX exceptions; offer the tariff advantage in an MFN-consistent manner. Published in Georgetown Journal of International Law.