Korea Law Center | Professor Y.S. Lee - Revival of Industrial Policy: Toward a New Legal and Institutional Paradigm

The Korea Law Center is pleased to host Professor Y.S. Lee of West Virginia University College of Law to present his paper, “Revival of Industrial Policy: Toward a New Legal and Institutional Paradigm.”

Abstract

In recent years, the world’s major economies, such as the United States, China, and the European Union, have adopted policies that aim to promote domestic industries in strategic areas, such as semiconductors and electric vehicles, through substantial subsidization. These policies have been justified for the need to secure supply chains and protect national security interests, but they are also incompatible with the rules of international trade law, such as the WTO Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement. There are considerable challenges to addressing this incompatibility as these economies have shared interests in promoting these policies for their own domestic industries. The increasing economic and political tensions between China and other powers, such as the United States, generate substantial political support for maintaining the current trajectory, which is justified by national security concerns, regardless of their incompatibility with WTO law. The current U.S. block of the appointment of Appellate Body members also creates an additional barrier to addressing this issue in the WTO dispute settlement body. This article discusses the revival of industrial policy and examines its incompatibility with the WTO subsidies regime and regulation under GATT Article XXI. The article also calls for a new legal and institutional paradigm to guide the design, implementation, and global coordination of industrial policy. 

About Professor Y.S. Lee

Professor Y.S. Lee is a lawyer, economist, and international relations scholar with internationally recognized authority in law and development and international trade law. He is a full-time, tenure-track faculty member at the West Virginia University College of Law and serves as Director and Professorial Fellow of the Law and Development Institute.

Over the past 25 years, he has taught and conducted academic research at universities in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He earned his undergraduate degree in economics with academic distinction from the University of California, Berkeley, and received his law degrees (B.A., M.A., Ph.D.) from the University of Cambridge. He is licensed to practice law in California, North Carolina, and the United Kingdom.

He has published over 130 academic works on international economic law, law and development, development economics, and business law, and is the originator of the “General Theory of Law and Development” and the “New General Theory of Development Economics.” He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of World Trade and the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Law and Development Review.

He has participated in trade and investment negotiations, including at UNCITRAL, served as government counsel before WTO dispute settlement panels and the Appellate Body, advised governments and firms on trade, development, and arbitration matters, and delivered over one hundred invited lectures, including at Harvard Kennedy School, Johns Hopkins SAIS, and the World Bank.

A link to the paper will be included in the registration confirmation.

To request reasonable accommodations for a disability, please contact centers@law.uci.edu.

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