Fletcher Faculty Features: Prof. Joel Trachtman

As part of an ongoing series, we will be featuring the recent work of a number of our esteemed business faculty here at The Fletcher School. The series continues with Joel Trachtman, Professor of International Law at The Fletcher School.
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Joel Trachtman gave a speech on a panel of the ICTSD (International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development) in late January 2016. The speech asked the question,
“How does WTO law restrict national labeling regimes for environmental protection, specifically US dolphin safe tuna labeling standards.” You can watch the full panel discussion online as well as view Prof. Trachtman’s slides.

Professor Trachtman also wrote a pair of working papers in 2015-16, one for the RFF (Resources of the Future) and the other for the European University Institute:

• “WTO Law Constraints on on Border Tax Adjustment and Tax Credit Mechanisms to Reduce the Competitive Effects of Carbon Taxes.” – If the US imposes carbon taxes, how will WTO law shape the way that the US applies these carbon taxes to imported and exported goods?  Read the paper online
• “Export Restrictions and the Limits of Textual Interpretation. ” – How did the US use WTO law to persuade China to liberalize exports of rare earth minerals? Read the paper online

In addition, Prof. Trachtman penned a chapter for “The Obsolescence of Customary International Law,”  which features in Curtis Bradley’s (ed.), Custom’s Future (Cambridge University Press, 2016).  The chapter asks, does traditional customary international law work to address major international business, economic, and security problems?