(University of Oregon School of Law, 2022-05-04) Zhou, Jingyuan (Joey)
After the pandemic, global governance in trade and investment as we knew it is poised to change dramatically. After many governments imposed measures—often unilaterally—in an effort to contain COVID-19, international trade in services plummeted, which, in turn, negatively affected efforts to effectively combat the pandemic. Many measures with trade-restrictive effects appear to have been adopted out of an abundance of caution. Moreover, the unilateral nature of those measures has further impeded international services trade, regardless of the differences in delivery modality. These policies were often adopted without notifying other nations that would likely be negatively affected. The Article then draws analogies from the application of the proposed rules to the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement (SPS Agreement) and concludes with the recognition of challenges ahead.
