Career achievement: made it into an academic selfie with @djag2.bsky.social (also: @ipster.bsky.social, a “smashing jacket”!)

Super excited to be organising this workshop with @claerwen.bsky.social in our capacity as co-chairs of the @anzsilgsil.bsky.social Looking forward to reading your abstracts then hearing your papers!

Just 13 sleeps to ANZSIL 2025, the world's best-sized public international law conference! Updated program available! anzsil.org/resources/Do...

I suppose Happy Feet was the reason that the Heard and McDonald islands got such a big tariff hit

A headline that feels accurate about other things than horse racing these days.

Spot on by @nicolaslamp.bsky.social: ”For whatever else President Trump did on April 2nd, he did not offer a superior alternative to [highly imperfect system of international trade law that we have]-not for the United States, and much less for the world.”

Apply for my old job (10 years ago…) !

Liz Truss: *kills queen* JD Vance: Hold my communion wine

Interview with Ursula VdL in ZeitOnline. Some real zingers in there to go with a changing narrative about Europe lately (cf The Economist) www.zeit.de/politik/2025...

I tell students that trade law outlaws quantitative restrictions but not tariffs (subject to bindings etc) partly because Ts are more visible to consumers and thus more vulnerable to political pressure. The addition of an import fee could be a good example of that. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/b...

Liberation day is so tariffying.

Very useful tracker by @devonwhittle.bsky.social! tradenotes.substack.com/p/us-reactio...

Glad someone is bringing the levity today!

Useful thread by Thomas

Can NZ politicians and lawyers stop talking about tariffs on services and think about how you would put a tariff on a service? Keep thinking…

For NZ exporters wondering about other markets: exportpotential.intracen.org/en/markets/g...

Happy Autarky Day, America!

Last week, NZ and India announced that they'll restart FTA negotiations. But news items like this one make me think that it is more likely to be a difficult negotiation as anyone negotiating with India is finding out. www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3606...

Now that I am back from my trip to the US, a few political ads that caught my eye and an excerpt from some 1776 document…

My teaching evals often have at least one complaint about my accent, so I didn’t have being greeted with “are you a kiwi too?” in a shop in the 🇺🇸 on my bingo card

NZ and India wil start negotiating next month… Will India give more dairy market access and will National’s coalition partners be open to more immigration? Will it fare better than the attempt of 2010-2015? www.beehive.govt.nz/release/nz-i...

Definition of an airport: construction site where planes land and take off.

“Tariffs can be used to achieve some national targets, but they are rarely the best instrument to achieve them,” write @chadbown.bsky.social and @douglasirwin.bsky.social. What explains the Trump administration’s fixation on tariffs?

The Hinrich Foundation has a helpful roundup of news articles on the tariff whiplash: www.hinrichfoundation.com/research/wha...

Hang Five 569 ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ ✅ 100% playhangfive.com This was fun. Another one for the daily lineup of puzzles

An excellent start to season 2! (And an excellent way to spend half an hour on a public holiday)

Hearing @djag2.bsky.social go back to the “primary source” made that primary source sound even more unhinged, as impossible as that might seem!

Happy 600th anniversary to my alma mater, KULeuven.

Not quite @nytimes.com: Yes, the WTO has lost much of its ability to handle these legal disputes, but this started during Obama’s 2nd term. Also, the AB was never able to take “legally binding” decisions or make a Panel report such. This power belongs to the Dispute Settlement Body or DSB.

As illegal as Trump’s tariffs are under the WTO and USMCA (assuming that a successful invocation of a national security defence is impossible), let’s also not forget that under trade law Canada and Mexico’s retaliation is also illegal.

Public service announcement: "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck."

There is still time to submit your paper or panel proposals for the world's best-sized international law conference, ANZSIL 2025. (And PGR workshop applications!) Deadline 10 Feb 2025, details here: anzsil.org.au/32nd-ANZSIL-...

So here a still incomplete but hopefully already essential starter pack on international trade policy: nerds, hacks, wonks, spoks, bosses #tradepolicy #tradewarobservers go.bsky.app/shBkVN

The kids were in my office today and decided to set some ground rules for any students

Sometimes my employer sends me nice messages

“Science with a purpose”

My teaching space and view for the next week. Now I just need the students to arrive! #firstdayjitters

Not good news - whooping cough is a hideous illness and killed 3 babies in NZ last year. Reminder that vaccination during pregnancy is the best way to protect your baby for their first few months before they can be immunised themselves. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

I hadn’t seen one of these yet so made one of all the ANZSIL members I could find over here. Apologies if I missed anyone - but there’s still space! go.bsky.app/53PWALS

Demons of IL will be responsible for my increased coffee consumption in 2025.

Perfect antidote indeed

The ACCTS is now signed. www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/fre...

Teacher only day and hosting 6 kids for a daylong play date for eldest’s birthday. They’re loving it.

If Seymour’s head hasn’t blown up not after he finds out about the 60k German speakers in the East of Belgium, he most certainly will when someone tries to explain the constitutional arrangements for Brussels…

Celebrating a decade as a parent today. What a decade it’s been…

What Eddie said 👇🏻

New Zealand has requested negotiations under art 28.20 in its CPTPP dairy dispute with 🇨🇦 www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-...

Rapper name and/or epitaph just dropped.

Starting the long trek home