WTO Agreement on Safeguards: A Commentary »

Alan Sykes received his law degree from Yale University in 1982, and his Ph.D. in economics from Yale in 1987. He was in private practice in Washington, D.C. at the law firm of Arnold in Porter from 1982-86, specializing in international trade matters, including escape clause cases under U.S. law. He joined the University of Chicago faculty in 1986, and became the Frank and Bernice Greenberg Professor in 1996. His principal research interest is international trade, on which he has published numerous books and articles. His books include Product Standards for internationally Integrated Goods Markets (Brookings 1995), and Legal Problems of International Economic Relations (West 2002), co-authored with John H. Jackson and William J. Davey.

The protection of troubled industries against import surges, called safeguard measures under WTO law, are controversially justified on the basis of economic concerns. This book reviews the economic literature bearing on the soundness of safeguard policies. It also addresses the complex legal issues relating to the constraints on safeguard measures under WTO law, and affords a thorough discussion and critical analysis of the WTO disputes in the area, including the most recent case involving measures protecting the U.S. steel industry.