Professor Lee will speak at Yale Law School on October 15 and at New York University School of Law on October 16 as part of lecture and colloquium programs. He will conclude the series at Harvard Law School on October 21, where he will deliver an East Asian Legal Studies Talk entitled “Beyond Tariffs and Subsidies: Toward a New Framework for U.S. Industrial Policy – A Law and Development Analysis.”

The talks will address Professor Lee’s recent research on U.S. industrial policy from a law and development perspective. Against the backdrop of the renewed U.S. reliance on tariffs and subsidies to promote domestic manufacturing and strategic industries, his research examines whether the United States has the legal and institutional capacity necessary to implement industrial policy effectively. Applying the General Theory of Law and Development, Professor Lee identifies legal and institutional deficiencies affecting policy implementation, coordination, and coherence and develops elements of a new framework for industrial promotion based on international collaboration, economic rationality, and institutional coordination.

Professor Lee is the Arthur S. Dayton Faculty Fellow at the West Virginia University College of Law and Director and Professorial Fellow of the LDI. A lawyer, economist, and international relations scholar, he has published extensively in law and development, international trade law, comparative law, and international commercial arbitration. His books include Reclaiming Development in the World Trading System (Cambridge University Press, 3rd ed. forthcoming 2026), Safeguard Measures in World Trade: The Legal Analysis (Edward Elgar, 4th ed. 2025), and Law and Development: Theory and Practice (Routledge, 2nd ed. 2022). He is also an associate editor of the Journal of World Trade and the founding editor-in-chief of the Law and Development Review.

November 2025

We, professors of international trade law, issue this statement to highlight the broader significance of the pending litigation concerning the legality of the reciprocal and universal tariff regime.

This statement arises in connection with the case V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Donald J. Trump (No. 25-250), currently before the Supreme Court of the United States. In its decision of May 28, 2025, the United States Court of International Trade held that the so-called “reciprocal and universal” tariff regime exceeded presidential authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). On August 29, 2025, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the merits of the CIT’s judgment. The Supreme Court’s review of that judgment presents questions of exceptional importance to both constitutional governance and international economic order.

We are deeply concerned that a judicial endorsement of this tariff regime could have far-reaching implications for the rule of law within the United States and for the stability of the multilateral trading system that underpins the world economy.

Existing amicus curiae briefs filed with the Supreme Court explain the inconsistency of the universal and reciprocal tariff regime with the U.S. Constitution and relevant statutes such as the IEEPA. We wish to emphasize an equally critical dimension: the danger these tariffs pose to the rule-based international trading system and to the economic welfare of 130 millions of American households who depend on it for affordable goods, stable employment, and predictable markets.

The universal and reciprocal tariffs are fundamentally incompatible with the United States’ obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994), a core component of the World Trade Organization (WTO) legal framework. The GATT’s most-favored-nation (MFN) principle, articulated in Article I, requires that any advantage granted to one member be extended unconditionally to all others. Reciprocal tariffs that vary according to other countries’ perceived protection levels directly violate that principle.

Article II of the GATT further binds members to maintain tariff rates at or below agreed ceilings. Unilateral tariff increases exceed those bindings and contravene Article II unless renegotiated through proper multilateral procedures. The WTO framework—including its agreements on safeguards, antidumping, and subsidies—provides lawful mechanisms for addressing injurious trade practices; it does not authorize unilateral, across-the-board revisions of tariff schedules.

Recognizing the legality of such tariffs would set a precedent for widespread unilateralism, inviting retaliation and accelerating the erosion of the rules-based trading system that has supported global growth and stability since 1948. The United States, as both architect and guardian of that system, bears a special responsibility to uphold its legal integrity. A judicial affirmation of broad, discretionary tariff powers would signal a retreat from the nation’s long-standing commitment to lawful and cooperative trade governance.

Beyond the international ramifications, the domestic economic consequences of these tariffs would be severe. Tariffs operate as indirect taxes on consumers, raising prices through supply chains and disproportionately burdening lower-income Americans for whom essential goods such as food, clothing, and household necessities constitute a larger share of spending. They would also raise production costs for small and medium-sized manufacturers reliant on imported components, undermining competitiveness and employment in already vulnerable sectors. The resulting inflationary pressures would deepen inequality and weaken household purchasing power, contradicting the objectives of sound economic policy.

The administration maintains that these tariffs will encourage foreign firms to relocate production to the United States, thereby creating jobs and revitalizing manufacturing. Yet high production costs and shortages of skilled engineers present formidable barriers. The recent arrest and deportation of hundreds of South Korean engineers who had entered the United States to assist in operating new factories in Georgia exemplify the inconsistency between protectionist measures and the practical requirements of sustaining advanced manufacturing. This contradiction shows how protectionist strategies—rather than fostering durable industrial growth through innovation—risk deterring foreign investment and undermining the very objectives they claim to promote.

This dispute thus transcends questions of trade policy. It implicates fundamental principles of constitutional separation of powers, statutory delegation, and the United States’ fidelity to both its domestic and international legal commitments. The decisions of lower courts have already recognized these dangers, warning that unbounded executive authority over trade measures not only threatens constitutional balance but also destabilizes the rule-based system on which both the U.S. and global economies depend.

We call upon policymakers, scholars, and the public to recognize that the rule of law—not political discretion or expediency—must guide the United States’ engagement with the world economy. The outcome of this litigation will shape the future of American leadership and determine whether the multilateral trading system can continue to serve as a framework grounded in law, fairness, and mutual confidence.

Signed,

Prof. Y.S. Lee
The Law and Development Institute
West Virginia University

Prof. Frank J. Garcia
Dean’s Distinguished Scholar
Boston College Law School

“Law and Economic Development”

Honolulu, Hawai‘i, December 5-6, 2025

The Law and Development Institute (www.lawanddevelopment.net) and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, William S. Richardson School of Law will co-host the 2025 Law and Development Conference.

Law has a significant impact on economic development, which in turn enhances growth, industrial competitiveness, and sustainability. But there is no consensus on the optimal set of laws and legal institutions to promote economic development and channel it toward positive impacts. In particular, there is a range of views on whether government regulations hinder or facilitate development, and what types of interventions are likely to be effective. The conference will explore how both international and domestic legal frameworks contribute to development, with a particular emphasis on sustainability concerns. The following sub-topics will be examined:

• • Sustainable Development, Law, and Environmental Protection
  • Law and Industrial Diversification
  • Trade Law and Development
  • International Investment Law and Development
  • Property Law and Sustainability
  • Rising Issues in Law and Development

We ask all interested speakers to submit one-page paper abstracts by May 1, 2025. (Please indicate the relevant sub-topic in your submission.) We expect abstracts, papers, and presentations in the English language.

Important Deadlines

• • Abstract Submission: May 1, 2025
  • Notification of Acceptance: June 1, 2025
  • Final Selection of Speakers: June 15, 2025
  • Full Papers Due: November 1, 2025

Please note that all conference papers will be uploaded on the conference website and will be accessible by the general public (with the attachment of appropriate copyright notice).

Selected papers will be published in a Law and Development Review Special Issue in 2026.

We expect all authors to publish their conference papers, if selected, in the 2026 LDR Special Issue.

All speakers and participants are expected to make their own travel arrangements during the conference. No financial support is available.

Please submit your abstract and conference inquiries to the  Law and Development Institute (Professor Y.S. Lee) by email at info@lawanddevelopment.net 

The Law and Development Institute (www.lawanddevelopment.net) and the Centre for Asian Legal Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS) co-host the 2023 Law and Development Conference.

COVID-19, the unprecedented pandemic since the end of World War II, has caused a worldwide economic crisis. All countries have been affected by this pandemic, but developing countries with vulnerable economies have been hit particularly hard, calling for legal and institutional remedies for economic recovery. The pandemic has also acerbated the existing socioeconomic problems in many countries, including racial economic inequality and educational disparities in society. The conference addresses law and development issues relevant to the circumstances of the pandemic on the following sub-topics.

• Legal Remedies for the Pandemic-Caused Economic Disruptions
• The Pandemic, Discrimination, and the Right to Development
• The Pandemic and Developing Countries: Legal and Institutional Approaches
• Technological Innovations at the time of the Pandemic and the Law
• The Pandemic-induced Social Changes and the Law
• Education, the Pandemic, and Rising Issues

The select conference papers will be published in the 2024 Special Issue of Law and Development Review (www.degruyter.com/ldr) published by DeGruyter.

The conference is open to the general public. Participants must register online no later than November 15, 2023.

Dates and Venue
December 8 and 9, 2023
Wee Chong Jin Moot Court, National University of Singapore
469G Bukit Timah Road, Singapore

For questions, send inquiries to lawdevconf2023@gmail.com (with cc to info@lawanddevelopment.net)

For full Conference program, click here.

Graduate School of Public Administration (Knowledge Center for Public Administration and Policy), Seoul National University, hosts Professor Lee’s speech on June 5, 2023 (11:50 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.).

Northeast Asia, a major region in Asia covering China, North and South Korea, Mongolia, and Japan, is economically the most vibrant area, offering unprecedented economic opportunities for the rest of the world. However, the region also exhibits considerable political and military tensions, creating a worldwide security risk. The nuclear crisis caused by North Korea’s nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches has dramatically revealed this risk. The summit between South and North Korea on April 27, 2018, and another summit between the United States and North Korea on June 12, 2018, may have averted the worst catastrophe; substantial political uncertainty and risk of major military conflict still remain.

Although less dramatic and visible to the outside world, there have long been other political and military tensions among the constituent countries in Northeast Asia with deep historical roots, such as territorial disputes; lack of reconciliation over the atrocities caused by the Second World War; deepening disparity among Northeast Asian countries in political influence and military powers associated with the rise of China; and uncertainty for the future of the region due to the potential instability of North Korea caused by its international confrontations, internal political issues, and economic problems. The magnitude of these issues has the potential to destabilize the entire region.

Professor Lee discusses his upcoming book Sustainable Peace in Northeast Asia (Anthem Press, forthcoming September 2023) and explores a pathway to sustaining peace in Northeast Asia.  

The online seminar expects to run for two hour and 30 min. (including Q&As) via zoom (https://zoom.us/j/94516466744).  The seminar will feature following presentations broadly related to law and sustainable development.  

1. Julien Chaisse (City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong): The Rise of Corruption Counterclaims in Investment Arbitration: Individual Solutions for a Systemic Problem?
2. Beverly Moran (Vanderbilt University, USA): It is Worse than You Think: The Perils of Using Taxes for Economic Development
3. Ajay Kumar (University of Bradford, U.K.): Changing International Fiscal Standards and the Unchanging fortunes of Sustainable Development
4. Dan Wei (University of Macau, Macau): China’s Approach to Sustainable Development in Economic Integration Agreements (paper in progress)
5. Brian Ikejiaku (University of Bradford, U.K.): International Law and Sustainable Development: Grounds for Cancellation of Africa Debts
6. Mohammad Kayal (Sorbonne University, Abu Dhabi, UAE): Double Impact: A Macroeconomic Study of the Crossed Influences between Climate Change and Business Tourism

The select seminar papers will be published in 2023 Law and Development Review Special Issue.

Postdoctoral applicants from all over the world can apply. Candidates do not have to have obtained their PhD at a YUFE University, but must have obtained their PhD a maximum of 6 years before the call deadline. Applicants are free to choose a research topic, but it must address one or more societal challenges and opportunities framed in an urban context. For the current call, those focus areas are ‘Sustainability’ and ‘Digital Society’.

The deadline for this first call on 7 May 2023. A second call for this scheme with an additional 2 or 3 positions at UAntwerp, and with a focus on the areas of ‘Citizen’s wellbeing’ and ‘European Identity’ will open on the 1^st of October 2023.

More information on the call and the application procedure can be found in the attached leaflet and on the YUFE4postdocs website. In case of questions, do not hesitate to contact the Faculty of Law’s Research Office (research.law@uantwerpen.be), the institutional navigator at the University of Antwerp (Hannah.whittleletchford@uantwerpen.be) or the coordinator of the YUFE4postdoc  programme, Anne Adams (anne.adams@uantwerpen.be).

Kind regards

Wouter Vandenhole (he/him/his)
Full professor | Vice-dean of research

Singapore, December 8-9, 2023

The Law and Development Institute (www.lawanddevelopment.net) and the Centre for Asian Legal Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS) co-host the 2023 Law and Development Conference.

COVID-19, the unprecedented pandemic since the end of World War II, has caused a worldwide economic crisis. All countries have been affected by this pandemic, but developing countries with vulnerable economies have been hit particularly hard, calling for legal and institutional remedies for economic recovery. The pandemic has also acerbated the existing socioeconomic problems in many countries, including racial economic inequality and educational disparities in society. The conference addresses law and development issues relevant to the circumstances of the pandemic on the following sub-topics.

• Legal Remedies for the Pandemic-Caused Economic Disruptions
• The Pandemic, Racial Discrimination, and the Law
• The Pandemic and Least-Developed Countries: Legal and Institutional Approaches
• Technological Innovations at the time of the Pandemic and the Law
• The Pandemic-induced Social Changes and the Law
• Education, the Pandemic, and the Law

We ask all interested speakers to submit one-page paper abstracts by May 1, 2023. (Please indicate the relevant sub-topic in your submission.) We expect abstracts, papers, and presentations in English language.

Important Deadlines

Abstract Submission: May 1, 2023

Notification of Acceptance: June 1, 2023

Final Selection of Speakers: June 15, 2023

Full Papers Due: November 1, 2023

Please note that all conference papers will be uploaded on the conference website and will be accessible by the general public (with the attachment of appropriate copyright notice).

Selected papers will be published in Law and Development Review Special Issue in 2024.

All speakers and participants are expected to make their own travel arrangements during the conference.

Please submit your abstract and conference inquiries to Law and Development Institute (Professor Y.S. Lee) by email at info@lawanddevelopment.net

LDR is one of a very few peer-reviewed academic journals devoted to law and development. LDR has been continuously operated since 2008. Some of the finest scholars around the world, including David Trubek, Michael, Trebilcock, Bhupinder Chimni, and Mitsuo Matsushita, have contributed to the journal.

An academic paper (10,000 – 15,000 words, inclusive of footnotes and bibliography or shorter essays) addressing any issue that broadly pertains to the relationship between law and what can be considered as an economic or social progress in any substantive field of law will be a good article to submit to LDR.  LDR is globally circulated, and the journal is currently included by 40 academic indexes around the world, including the SCOPUS and the Web of Science. 

LDR is a highly selective journal, but the accepted articles will enjoy global readership (per the journal’s generous policy, individual readers may access all articles published by LDR free of charge from anywhere in the world upon brief registration).

All articles submitted to LDR for its regular issue are subject to blinded peer-review.  As for article submission, we accept articles at any time, but given our publication schedule, we recommend articles submitted by the end of August, 2022.  All articles must be submitted online at www.degruyter.com/ldr. (Detailed submission instructions may be found therein.)  All inquiries should be emailed to LDR@lawanddevelopment.net. 

Korean scholars and experts based in the United States and Korea, in the areas of economics, law, and other related areas, are expected to participate in the discussion forum. Prof. Y.S. Lee, the LDI Director, will present a paper, “The Fallacy of Contract in Sexual Slavery,” a rebuttal on Ramseyer’s controversial article, “Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War.”