Brian Pomper Op-Ed Published by IPWatchdog

“New Research Supports What We’ve Long Known: Enforcement Is the Key to Benefitting from Trade Deals,” an opinion piece by Akin Gump public law and policy practice co-leader Brian Pomper, has been published by IPWatchdog.

Pomper writes that a study from New York University has found that the 250,000 exiting treaties aimed at fostering international cooperation have been mostly ineffective, with the exception of those involving trade and finance, where “meaningful enforcement mechanisms” made agreements “effective in increasing commerce and global prosperity.”

However, he writes, the mere presence of enforcement mechanisms in trade agreements is not enough to prevent violations of the commitments made: “It’s incumbent upon the parties to the agreement to use the enforcement provisions to actually enforce the obligations their trading partners have undertaken.”

Pomper then discusses, in a section titled “Opportunities to Improve,” the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, regarding which, he points to ways in which these treaties are not preventing participants from behaving in ways counter to the spirit and letter of the agreements.

In the section “Let’s Get It Right This Time,” Pomper looks at the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, what it seeks to accomplish, and how it might work best for the U.S.: “If we want the IPEF to be a success and meaningfully benefit America’s workers, farmers and businesses, it should include enforcement mechanisms that would allow the United States to hold our trading partners to their IPEF commitments.”

To read the full op-ed, click here.