Archive - Trade Notes

US: What to read on the Supreme Court's IEEPA ruling and what comes next

Last Friday, the Supreme Court found the President can't use IEEPA to impose tariffs. I’ve collected some of the most useful commentary on the decision…

Feb 26 • Devon Whittle

January 2026

2026: What's interesting (to me) in trade in 2026

It’s the start of a new year and, as in the past two years, that’s a good time to take a look at what I think could be interesting in trade in 2026.

Jan 22 • Devon Whittle

November 2025

AfCFTA: Rules of Origin for Digital Products - new approaches in the Digital Trade Protocol's ROO Annex

Last year I wrote about the African Continental Free Trade Agreement’s (AfCFTA) Digital Trade Protocol (the Protocol), which on paper contains some…

Nov 21, 2025 • Devon Whittle

US: Deals with Cambodia and Malaysia - thoughts on services MFN, digital trade triggers, and alignment with US trade measures

Last weekend the United States (US) signed two new trade agreements - one with Cambodia and one with Malaysia. I’m a bit late to comment but there are a…

Nov 1, 2025 • Devon Whittle

August 2025

India-UK CETA: Interesting things in Services, Digital Trade, and the Security Exception

In an era of “napkin deals”, it’s nice to see some countries still doing the hard work of entering into comprehensive, concrete and legal binding trade…

Aug 6, 2025 • Devon Whittle

July 2025

CPTPP: Six suggestions for potential wins in Australia's chairing year

We are now about halfway into Australia’s year chairing the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, so here are six…

Jul 2, 2025 • Devon Whittle

May 2025

FTAs: "Forward Most-Favoured-Nation" treatment on the table in India-US negotiations

Reuters reported last week that India may be considering offering a “forward most-favoured-nation” (MFN) clause in the trade agreement it is negotiating…

May 8, 2025 • Devon Whittle

April 2025

RCEP: Insiders' views of the RCEP negotiations - interviews with RCEP negotiators

For those following trade agreement negotiations, I recently came across an open access book published in February that will likely be of interest. It…

Apr 21, 2025 • Devon Whittle

US: Initial reactions to Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs - minimal retaliation, lots of negotiations, early signs of cooperation

A week is now a long time in trade policy and for the past week I’ve been tracking the various reactions to the US’s so-called reciprocal tariffs (now…

Apr 12, 2025 • Devon Whittle

US: Reactions to Trump's so-called 'reciprocal' tariffs - retaliations, disputes, and other comments

I did not intend to do two Trump-related posts in a row, but I have been tracking the recent tariff announcements (as have many others) and I thought it…

Apr 3, 2025 • Devon Whittle

March 2025

Digital: Trump on Digital Trade Regulations - "Overseas Extortion", "Unfair Fines" and violations of "American sovereignty"

Last month we got to see the Trump Administration’s most direct action yet on digital trade issues in the form of a Memorandum on “Defending American…

Mar 24, 2025 • Devon Whittle

February 2025

WTO: Australia successfully defends its implementation of the Services Domestic Regulation plurilateral in its GATS Schedule

Earlier this month, the Findings of the Arbitration initiated by India against Australia regarding Australia's implementation of the Services Domestic…

Feb 20, 2025 • Devon Whittle