This introductory course surveys the laws of international trade regulation from a Canadian perspective. The course focuses on the public international law and domestic public law regimes regulating the conduct of international trade to and from Canada, with a particular focus on the multilateral World Trade Organization (WTO) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). An additional focus will be on some of the many preferential trade agreements relevant to the international trade of Canada such as the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA, renegotiation of the NAFTA), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Finally, this fall’s course will consider the nature of international trade regulation in a time of assertive unilateralism, including for reasons of national security and economic strategy, especially associated with the second Trump administration in the United States.
The course has an express objective of providing all students with an introduction to some basic policy aspects of international trade regulation drawn from economic theory, international relations theory, and international legal theory. No background is expected of students in terms of prior legal or other disciplinary knowledge (such as economics), just an interest in learning about some relevant policy tools from other disciplines.
Particular subjects for discussion include: the relation of international law to national laws of trade regulation; WTO/GATT treaties and institutions; preferential trade agreements such as the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement; trade in goods; trade remedy law such as antidumping duties; trade in services; trade and intellectual property; trade and investment. This course will also discuss important themes of contemporary international economic relations including the relation of trade to matters of national security and economic sanctions, and the relation of trade to social regulation, such as environmental or labour regulation.
Method of Evaluation: Open-book final examination (100%). Alternative evaluation: open-book final examination (75%) and mid-term assignment on topic set by instructor (25%).