May 21, 2024
This May, legal practitioners and scholars from across the world gathered in London to share best practices and advance thinking on a topic critical to global governance: the future of economic treaties.
Hosted by The Center for Transnational Legal Studies (CTLS), the roundtable on “International Economic Deals: Changing Forms and New Practices” brought together government officials from several countries along with academic experts and private practitioners to consider how the international landscape for such treaties is evolving. CTLS, a hub for intellectual interaction and thought leadership in international and comparative law, welcomed these more than two dozen participants to its London premises.
The roundtable was hosted by Kathleen Claussen, CTLS Summer Scholar in Residence and Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, who has written extensively about trade and investment agreements. Claussen and her collaborators prepared a portfolio of materials for the current and former government officials, including her 2022 article, Trade’s Mini-Deals, which was the first deep study of the trend toward new forms of economic agreements. That article concentrated on U.S. trade lawmaking, and has spurred additional research by scholars and practitioners on other continents to investigate the same trends.
The four roundtable session topics, “Taking Stock of New Modalities of International Economic Deals: Institutional and Structural Questions,” “International Legal and Policy Questions Surrounding the Negotiation and Implementation of Economic Agreements,” “Domestic Legal and Policy Questions Surrounding the Negotiation and Implementation of Economic Agreements,” and “Future Challenges and Opportunities,” along with a working lunch with remarks from a former Biden Administration official, all sparked generative discussions among the participants.
One government official remarked that the roundtable was “highly productive and useful for the present policy making agenda”. Another private practitioner participant commented that the day was “perfectly suited for the moment” and that “it was a pleasure to engage with others confronting the challenge” of innovation in economic deals. Following a full day of engagement, the group enjoyed a dinner at one of the city’s celebrated Indian fusion restaurants.
Claussen said she was already looking forward to continuing the conversation with the participants in other fora beyond the one-day workshop. Follow-up meetings continued in London in June. “I’m delighted that the summer roundtable was so generative for the government and private sector participants who were able to join us,” said Claussen. “I was especially pleased to have so many perspectives at the table. It quickly became clear that new forms of economic deal making are on the agenda in multiple jurisdictions. The roundtable provided an important opportunity for the participants to exchange views.”
Claussen expressed her gratitude to the CTLS team, including CTLS Faculty Director Professor Yvonne Tew and Georgetown Law’s former Associate Dean Madhavi Sunder, for their support of the program. “CTLS is a perfect home for these sorts of cross-cutting conversations. I was honored to be able to host the group there.”