A new kind of trade police?

Came across this extensively researched piece in the HILJ on "Trade Policing" by Kathleen Claussen. At first, the title seemed familiar. International trade aficionados view the multilateral system as a trade police, albeit, in a benign way, nothwithstanding its binding dispute settlement mechanism.

But wait, this article had a totally different take which got me curious. "Trade Policing" in this article meant a set of trade tool kits that governments use to target companies/firms/corporations where they perceive the country's trade interests or other interests are being impacted. So while the WTO's rule book is focussed on state to state engagement and "measures" by the State that can violate treaty obligations, actions of countries towards foreign firms is a kind of alternate route.

So what kinds of actions are being referred to here. Kathleen refers to four types of action:

1. Mechanisms to detain goods at teh border on environmental and labour grounds - under the USMCA

2. Prohibiting goods from entering the country on the grounds of human rights violation involved in producing those goods

3. Export controls in various areas of military technology

4. Data gathering from individual firms on various aspects of their supply chain including due diligence checks.

Now these measures are specific and corporation specific. It is not targeted against a specific State or country. Whether these toolkits can be challenged under international trade law rules is another question. However, the author does allude to the fact that these toolkits weaken an already beleaguered multilateral system:

"...The implications surrounding this move are not limited to U.S. actors. For international trade organizations, the shift in trade policing is one of concern. The foundations of the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) and its supporting organizations rest on state-to-state engagement and rules developed and shared by those states. States’ increasing reliance on these statutory instruments upsets the dominance of the state role at the WTO and displaces the WTO’s Dispute Settlement System. The new trade policing typically substitutes unilateral action or sometimes domestic courts in these spaces, risking international de-judicialization. ..."

A very detailed article with multifarious dimensions. Requires a re-read sometime. But for now, just thought the idea of a Trade Police is quite an interesting thought - albeit, a domestic one with international ramifications!