Spring 2024
Professor(s):
Elizabeth Trujillo (FACULTY)
Credits: 3
Course Areas: International Law
Energy, Natural Resources and Environmental Law
Time: 1:00p-2:30p MW Location: 222
Course Outline: This course introduces students to basic legal principles for international trade and its relevance to sustainable development. Students will review U.S. trade policy in the context of international trade rules established through the World Trade Organization and relevant regional trade agreements. Basic trade law will be examined, with a focus on the rules that relate to sustainability. As countries begin to transition their economies towards clean methods of supply-chain production and clean energy, international trade rules become increasingly relevant in both promoting sustainability and in managing domestic policies that comply with trade rules. The course will address the topic through the lens of the United Nations Sustainability Goals as well as through domestic policy, allowing for a fluid discussion of the local and global aspects of sustainable development. Specifically, related trade topics that impact environmental policy such as dispute settlement, supply-chain management, corporate social responsibility and international standards, border tax adjustments, tariff and non-tariff policies will be discussed. Though the focus of this course is primarily on environmental sustainability, it will also address other relevant areas of sustainability such as human rights and energy policy from the local, regional, and global perspectives.
This course will have a final take-home exam.
No pre-requisites are required to take this course.
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Course Syllabus: Syllabus
Course Notes: (Face-to-Face) The UH registration system instruction mode for this course is listed in parenthesis. For this instruction mode, instructors and students are expected to normally be physically present in the classroom. If the course has a final examination, it will be in a classroom requiring your physical presence. Other assessment, such as a mid-term exam, may also be in a classroom. Whether this instructor will offer “remote presence” (starting a zoom meeting from the podium computer to enable student remote access on an occasional basis) for part or all of the semester is not known, but students should not rely on an expectation that remote presence will be available.
Quota=20.
Prerequisites:
First Day Assignments: Wednesday, January 17, 2024: *Please note that this class will be held via zoom
PGH casebook Ch. 1: pp. 1-20
Please read the Preamble of the WTO Agreement which can be found in the PGH Supplement or online at https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/publications_e/ai17_e/gatt1994_preamble_gatt47.pdf (attached)
Please also reading the following article, Jonathan Watts, The World will Look Back at 2023 as Year Humanity Exposed its inability to Tackle Climate Crises, Scientists Say, in THE GUARDIAN, Dec. 29, 2023, available at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/29/world-will-look-back-at-2023-as-year-humanity-exposed-its-inability-to-tackle-climate-crisis
Please also read the following UN Climate press release regarding COP 28, available here: https://unfccc.int/news/cop28-agreement-signals-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-fossil-fuel-era
Study Question: What do you think is the connection between international trade and climate change challenges?
Looking Ahead: Monday, January 22, 2023: Guzman & Pauwelyn (3rd ed) [PGH Casebook]: Please read pp. 21-47 Pursuing Sustainability [PS Book]: Please read Ch. 1 (pp. 1-13). We will connect the sustainability principles and case studies to the readings in the PGH Casebook and additional readings (to be assigned).
*This class and the rest of the semester will be conducted in person, unless otherwise instructed.
First Week Assignments
Final Exam Schedule:
This course will have:
Exam:
Paper:
Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: No
Experiential Course Type: No
Bar Course: No
DistanceEd ABA: No
Pass-Fail Student Election: Unavailable (Instructor Preference)
Course Materials
Book(s) Required
Course Materials: 1) a casebook, Pauwelyn, Guzman & Hillman, International Trade Law (Wolters Kluwer, 3rd ed.); 2) a book entitled Pursuing Sustainability: A Guide to the Science and Practice by Pamela Matson, William C. Clark, and Krister Andersson.
Recommended:
Supplement to the casebook, Pauwelyn, Guzman & Hillman, International Trade Law Documents Supplement (the “Supplement”) which is strongly recommended but NOT required.
Folsom's International Trade Law Including Trump and Trade in a Nutshell, 7th (West Publishing, 2018); and Michael J. Trebilcock and Joel Trachtman, Advanced Introduction to Trade Law (Edward Elgar, 2020).