Introduction to International Trade Law

Hello everybody and welcome to the first lesson on our subject of international trade and international trade law specifically. In this video what we're going to do is take a brief introduction to the concept of international trade, the idea of international trade and then its relationship to the WTO, the World Trade Organization. So this is a lesson, the first lesson on a series of, of a series of lessons should I say, on the subject of Specifically, the World Trade Organization and international trade law. Now, for the most part, when we talk about international trade law, we are referring to WTO law. We are talking about the law of the World Trade Organization. That's because, of course, the World Trade Organization is front and center of the debate and the discussion around and surrounding the idea of international trade, the concept of trade. despite the fact that there are obviously other elements of trade law which is international in character. So, for example, elements of European Union law, which are to do with trade, the free movement of goods, for example. If you want to know more about that in relation to the European Union law, go and have a look at the European Law Academy on our YouTube channel. So what we'll do here is take an introduction to the subject of international trade, the subject of the WTO, the World Trade Organization. as well as outline the scope of this series of lessons for the future. So as a basic introduction we understand international trade and the law of international trade as being partly embedded into the broader framework of public international law. So this and international trade and economic law more generally international economic law more generally is a field a substrata of the broader concept of public international law. Now for those of you who don't know, public international law is the international law of states and the relationship between states. We delineate public international law from private international law, sometimes described as the conflict of laws, where we're talking about the jurisdictional elements and the merits of jurisdiction of particular domestic legal systems, that's what. privates or conflict of laws is. But public international law concerns itself with the relationship between states and international trade is no different. It is concerned with the relationship between states and the way in which they trade and the rules in which they adhere to. It is also, as stated here, a sub-discipline of international economic law. International economic law being a series of... elements of public international law which concern themselves with economic affairs, various different kinds of economic affairs. It's an incredibly broad topic and generally, as I've just mentioned, it can be described as the regulation of interstate economic activity. So think what economic activity could be and how economic activity differs from different subjects and then think about how that could be regulated at an international level. and you find yourself looking at and thinking about international economic law. We tend to describe international economic law as being public in nature, i.e. part of the broader framework of public international law, but others suggest that elements of international commercial law could essentially be rolled into and formulated within the context of economic law as well, which would suggest it has something of a private character, has a character which is more akin to the conflict of laws element of a university degree for example. Now fundamentally the lessons that we are going to be covering in this series and the lessons that we have been covering on the subject of international investment law have been very public international law oriented. They're very heavy in terms of the amount of public international law that we talk about. And so for that reason, we generally and universities would generally characterize international trade and WTO law as a form of public international law. Generally speaking, public international law of economic activities or public international economic law tends to have focus around three major disciplines. We have international trade law or WTO law, which is the scope of this series. We have international investment law, which is the scope of the series that we are running in conjunction with this, the lessons that we have on the Law Academy channel already. And then we also have international monetary law or financial law. This tends to form the discussion around the ideas and the law and the rules and the principles of both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. We have yet to go over that at the moment, but for now we're talking about WTO law, we're talking about international trade, and then on the other series we're also talking about international investment law. So with all this being said, why is the regulation of international trade even very important? Well, obviously the answer to this question is the amount and the proportion of the global economy that we can account for. used as an account for international trade. International trade today accounts for a ridiculously large proportion of the global economy. In a world which is seeing increasing economic and political globalization, we are also seeing the increase in the integration of markets and in the integration of economies, all of which would constitute even further to having and to essentially suggesting deeper trade relations. From the perspective of theory from a theoretical perspective, the concept of this deeper trade integration between countries is actually very symbolic of some of the theoretical ideas that were advanced by some of the earliest economists in history really, people like Adam Smith and David Ricardo. These are the theories of absolute advantage and the theory of comparative advantage. We'll get into that in more detail in the next lesson when we just really just formulate the purpose of international trade and we really provide something of a theoretical bedrock to this subject by talking about absolute and comparative advantage. For now though let's just outline the scope of this series, discuss the things that we're actually going to be talking about in this lesson. We are going to be focusing mainly on the regulation of international trade as done by the World Trade Organization, the WTO, under the auspices of the WTO. The first topic is of course going to just be a basic introduction, a theory of world trade, so talking about comparative and absolute advantage for example, as well as looking at the history of international trade as well. This again gives us some ideas in relation to its history, its historical development from the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, all the way through to the 1995 establishment of the World Trade Organization itself, before we then start to look at the institutional framework. So less the substantial law, the substantive law, but more the way in which the institutions of the WTO actually operate. This involves basically dividing this series of lessons into two subtopics. Firstly, talking about the structure and the organisation of the WTO, and then talking about the procedure of dispute settlement. Now, some courses at university or in textbooks will save WTO dispute settlement for last. I feel like it's... important to do WTO dispute settlement first because then when we start to actually look at the results of disputes whether that be through panels or through the appellate body we can get an understanding of how these disputes actually arise and how these disputes actually operate so not only are we going to be understanding the substantive law but we're also going to be understanding the procedural elements as well. We'll then get on to talking about the concept of non-discrimination within WTO law. This is very similar to the principles in international investment law that you have studied if you've watched these videos already. Mainly this is divided into two elements, the most favoured nations treatment on the one hand, and then the concept of the national treatment standard on the other. Part 4 concerns itself with the idea of market access. Part 5 concerns itself with exceptions to the basic principles of WTO law. So these can be divided into a number of different elements. General exceptions on the one hand, the idea of regional training arrangements, this being the exceptions that you can have and levy in relation to the establishment of customs unions, for example. The concept of the enabling clause, as well as certain emergency exceptions, which are established as the result of emergency situations in and around member states of the WTO. Finally, we will talk about unfair trading practices and the ways in which the WTO regulates unfair trading practices. This is in relation to the imposition and the establishment of subsidies on the one hand and dumping on the other and we'll talk about the ways in which we see anti-subsidization policy and anti-dumping policies being implemented by the WTO as well.

Now, for the most part, when we talk about international trade law, we are referring to WTO law. We are talking about the law of the World Trade Organization. That's because, of course, the World Trade Organization is front and center of the debate and the discussion around and surrounding the idea of international trade, the concept of trade. despite the fact that there are obviously other elements of trade law which is international in character.

So, for example, elements of European Union law, which are to do with trade, the free movement of goods, for example. If you want to know more about that in relation to the European Union law, go and have a look at the European Law Academy on our YouTube channel. So what we'll do here is take an introduction to the subject of international trade, the subject of the WTO, the World Trade Organization. as well as outline the scope of this series of lessons for the future.

So as a basic introduction we understand international trade and the law of international trade as being partly embedded into the broader framework of public international law. So this and international trade and economic law more generally international economic law more generally is a field a substrata of the broader concept of public international law. Now for those of you who don't know, public international law is the international law of states and the relationship between states.

We delineate public international law from private international law, sometimes described as the conflict of laws, where we're talking about the jurisdictional elements and the merits of jurisdiction of particular domestic legal systems, that's what. privates or conflict of laws is. But public international law concerns itself with the relationship between states and international trade is no different.

It is concerned with the relationship between states and the way in which they trade and the rules in which they adhere to. It is also, as stated here, a sub-discipline of international economic law. International economic law being a series of... elements of public international law which concern themselves with economic affairs, various different kinds of economic affairs.

It's an incredibly broad topic and generally, as I've just mentioned, it can be described as the regulation of interstate economic activity. So think what economic activity could be and how economic activity differs from different subjects and then think about how that could be regulated at an international level. and you find yourself looking at and thinking about international economic law. We tend to describe international economic law as being public in nature, i.e. part of the broader framework of public international law, but others suggest that elements of international commercial law could essentially be rolled into and formulated within the context of economic law as well, which would suggest it has something of a private character, has a character which is more akin to the conflict of laws element of a university degree for example.

Now fundamentally the lessons that we are going to be covering in this series and the lessons that we have been covering on the subject of international investment law have been very public international law oriented. They're very heavy in terms of the amount of public international law that we talk about. And so for that reason, we generally and universities would generally characterize international trade and WTO law as a form of public international law. Generally speaking, public international law of economic activities or public international economic law tends to have focus around three major disciplines.

We have international trade law or WTO law, which is the scope of this series. We have international investment law, which is the scope of the series that we are running in conjunction with this, the lessons that we have on the Law Academy channel already. And then we also have international monetary law or financial law. This tends to form the discussion around the ideas and the law and the rules and the principles of both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

We have yet to go over that at the moment, but for now we're talking about WTO law, we're talking about international trade, and then on the other series we're also talking about international investment law. So with all this being said, why is the regulation of international trade even very important? Well, obviously the answer to this question is the amount and the proportion of the global economy that we can account for.

used as an account for international trade. International trade today accounts for a ridiculously large proportion of the global economy. In a world which is seeing increasing economic and political globalization, we are also seeing the increase in the integration of markets and in the integration of economies, all of which would constitute even further to having and to essentially suggesting deeper trade relations.

From the perspective of theory from a theoretical perspective, the concept of this deeper trade integration between countries is actually very symbolic of some of the theoretical ideas that were advanced by some of the earliest economists in history really, people like Adam Smith and David Ricardo. These are the theories of absolute advantage and the theory of comparative advantage. We'll get into that in more detail in the next lesson when we just really just formulate the purpose of international trade and we really provide something of a theoretical bedrock to this subject by talking about absolute and comparative advantage.

For now though let's just outline the scope of this series, discuss the things that we're actually going to be talking about in this lesson. We are going to be focusing mainly on the regulation of international trade as done by the World Trade Organization, the WTO, under the auspices of the WTO. The first topic is of course going to just be a basic introduction, a theory of world trade, so talking about comparative and absolute advantage for example, as well as looking at the history of international trade as well.

This again gives us some ideas in relation to its history, its historical development from the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, all the way through to the 1995 establishment of the World Trade Organization itself, before we then start to look at the institutional framework. So less the substantial law, the substantive law, but more the way in which the institutions of the WTO actually operate. This involves basically dividing this series of lessons into two subtopics.

Firstly, talking about the structure and the organisation of the WTO, and then talking about the procedure of dispute settlement. Now, some courses at university or in textbooks will save WTO dispute settlement for last. I feel like it's...

important to do WTO dispute settlement first because then when we start to actually look at the results of disputes whether that be through panels or through the appellate body we can get an understanding of how these disputes actually arise and how these disputes actually operate so not only are we going to be understanding the substantive law but we're also going to be understanding the procedural elements as well. We'll then get on to talking about the concept of non-discrimination within WTO law. This is very similar to the principles in international investment law that you have studied if you've watched these videos already. Mainly this is divided into two elements, the most favoured nations treatment on the one hand, and then the concept of the national treatment standard on the other. Part 4 concerns itself with the idea of market access.

Part 5 concerns itself with exceptions to the basic principles of WTO law. So these can be divided into a number of different elements. General exceptions on the one hand, the idea of regional training arrangements, this being the exceptions that you can have and levy in relation to the establishment of customs unions, for example.

The concept of the enabling clause, as well as certain emergency exceptions, which are established as the result of emergency situations in and around member states of the WTO. Finally, we will talk about unfair trading practices and the ways in which the WTO regulates unfair trading practices. This is in relation to the imposition and the establishment of subsidies on the one hand and dumping on the other and we'll talk about the ways in which we see anti-subsidization policy and anti-dumping policies being implemented by the WTO as well.

Transcript for:Introduction to International Trade Law

Transcript for:
Introduction to International Trade Law