"Just Trade Under Law: Do We Need a Theory of Justice for International Trade Relations?"

Susan Esserman, head of the International Department, is appearing at the ASIL 100th Annual Meeting on a panel: "Just Trade Under Law: Do We Need a Theory of Justice for International Trade Relations?".

The law of international trade (GATT/WTO) is traditionally perceived as the result of a bargaining process. In this process, countries exchange trade concessions driven by self-interest. At the same time, they do share an underlying agreement that liberalized trade is normatively desirable as it increases overall welfare; and developed nations have granted special treatment to developing countries.

Now that the law of the WTO has expanded both in width and depth does this framework remain valid/sufficient? Given the persisting divide between rich and poor, both between and within member countries of the WTO, is there a need for a more sophisticated theory of justice? What theory of justice is most appropriate at the international level (as opposed to the domestic level of national polities)? Should the WTO, or international law in general, focus only on wealth creation (by enhancing trade opportunities) or also engage in the process of redistribution (through, for example, transfers of assets from rich to poor)? What are the lessons, in this respect, from the largely failed attempts by developed countries to set up a New International Economic Order through the United Nations; and the limited success of special and differential treatment granted to developing countries in the GATT/WTO?

Read more about the meeting agenda.