SSRN Id3924952

Daniel C.K. Chow, Thomas J. Schoenbaum, Gregory C.
Doris, INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW:

PROBLEMS, CASES, AND MATERIALS (4th ed. Aspen Publishers forthcoming 2022)
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION
Few legal topics are as volatile as the law of international trade. The Third Edition of this
book, published during the Obama Administration, alluded to the fact that the United States
and eleven Pacific Rim nations representing over 45 percent of global GDP had completed
negotiation of the Transpacific Partnership Agreement, and the European Union and the United
States were negotiating an even more comprehensive trade deal. Of course, both these matters
as well as many other international trade expectations fell by the wayside of economic and
political events.
From the American perspective, International Trade Law is drawn from two different
legal orders, on the one hand, the domestic laws and jurisprudence of the United States and, on
the other hand, public international law, stemming from treaties and decisions of international
tribunals. Over many years, the balance between these two legal orders shifts with the
prevailing winds of economics and politics. In the period between the successful conclusion of
the Uruguay Round of Trade of multilateral trade agreements and the Global Financial Crisis of
2007-2010, the international law of trade was paramount; domestic trade laws played only
secondary roles.
As of 2022, however, this balance has clearly shifted so that domestic U.S. domestic
laws of international trade have taken center stage. The United States is wary of entering into
new trade agreements, has changed its traditional support of the World Trade Organization
(WTO) and the global, multilateral trading system, and has adopted a much more
confrontational stance with respect to even its traditional trading partners. Domestic law trade
remedies now are paramount, including national security tariffs, section 301 retaliation for
unfair trade practices, antidumping and countervailing duties remedies, safeguard, and export
controls and trade sanctions placed upon other nations.
This Fourth Edition of International Trade Law: Cases, Problems and Materials, fully
takes account of these new developments in the law of international trade. We include
extensive analysis of all domestic U.S. trade remedies, albeit against the background of the
public international law rules of the multilateral trading system. Our goal is to provide a tool for
teaching U.S. trade remedies against a full background of WTO law. Through judicious editing,
our expanded coverage of U.S. domestic law remains within the context of a compact law
casebook that can be profitably be adopted and used to teach a one semester law school
course on International Trade.
Although polls show a majority of Americans support free and open international trade,
protectionist policies have come to the fore in political discussions and sometimes in decisions
taken by U.S. leaders. The Fourth Edition has been thoroughly revised to provide materials to
Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3924952

understand the debate over “free trade,” “fair trade,” “globalization” and “protectionism.” In
Chapter One we present all sides of this debate including materials that we think will enable
students to decide for themselves the merits or demerits of the arguments presented.
When the previous edition of this book was published, China was America’s largest
international trading partner. During the past five years China for most Americans has now
become an “enemy” nation with which the United States is famously locked into a “trade war.”
This Fourth Edition fully covers this change in perspective and the new confrontational nature
of our relationship with China.
This Fourth Edition also covers the changed nature of the World Trade Organization,
which is experiencing a crisis more profound than ever in its history. With the failure of the
Doha Development Agenda, the WTO is no longer trusted as a forum for multilateral trade
negotiations. Most nations, including the United States, now look to regional and bilateral trade
negotiations rather than turning to the WTO. Dissatisfaction has also grown concerning the
dispute resolution function of the WTO. For the past two years the WTO Appellate Body has not
been able to function because of a U.S. boycott of membership appointments. The most
important consequence of the U.S. boycott is that all WTO obligations have become, in effect,
unenforceable. Ironically however, the WTO dispute settlement mechanism is more popular
than ever as measured by the number of pending trade disputes. This Fourth Edition covers the
debate over the Appellate Body and the increasing criticism of U.S. policies on this issue.
For this new Fourth Edition we welcome a new coauthor, Gregory C. Dorris, a prominent
trade law practitioner who has over 30 years’ experience dealing with all important issues of
international trade law on behalf of a great variety of clients. Greg heads the international
trade law practice for a major national and international law firm. He has vast experience in
areas of trade policy, trade litigation, regulatory work, customs law, and export controls and
economic sanctions.
Although this Fourth Edition has been thoroughly revised, we have kept what we believe
are the strengths of this popular Casebook, which was first published in 2006. In this volume we
present the law of international trade, which we differentiate from the complementary subject
of International Business Transactions, which is the private law governing export/import
transactions, international licensing and distribution agreements, international investment, and
private international business litigation and arbitration. We have published a complementary
Casebook on IBT: Chow and Schoenbaum, International Business Transactions: Cases, Problems
and Materials (Aspen, 4th ed., 2020).
We believe that a “problem” oriented approach to teaching the law of international

trade has merit. Accordingly, we include a variety of short problems that the instructor may find
useful in assigning to students as classroom exercises. Of course, we realize that each instructor
may wish to include his/her own problems or classroom exercises as well.

This Fourth Edition also covers comprehensively and thoroughly all the traditional topics
of international trade, ranging from the “core obligations” of the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade (GATT) to “linkage” issues, such as trade and environment, trade and labor, and
trade and human rights.
We are always glad to hear from colleagues who give us excellent suggestion about how
they use this book.
Daniel C.K. Chow

[email protected]
Thomas J. Schoenbaum
[email protected]
Gregory C. Dorris
[email protected]
September 15, 2021

INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW
Fourth edition, Aspen Publishers, Forthcoming 2022
Table of Contents
List of Chapters
1. Political Economy and International Institutions

2. Trade and Domestic Law
3. Dispute Settlement
4. Trade Rights Enforcement
5. Trade in Goods: Customs and Tariff Laws
6. Core Obligations of the WTO: Most-Favored-Nation and National Treatment
7. Market Access and Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade
8. General Exceptions for National Security and Civil Society
9. Safeguards
10. Unfair Trade Remedies: Antidumping and Countervailing Duties
11. Trade in Services and the GATS
12. Export Controls and Sanctions
13. Investment
14. Intellectual Property and TRIPS
15. Developing Countries

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Daniel C.K. Chow, Thomas J. Schoenbaum, Gregory C.

Doris, INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW:

PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3924952

We believe that a “problem” oriented approach to teaching the law of international

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3924952

Daniel C.K. Chow

September 15, 2021

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3924952

1. Political Economy and International Institutions

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3924952

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