East Asian Legal Studies Talk:
Prof. Y.S. Lee
West Virginia University College o
f Law
Director\, Law and Development Institute
The United States has returned to tariffs and subsidies with renewed force\, seeking to rebu ild domestic manufacturing\, promote strategic industries\, and counter geo political rivals such as China. This resurgence of industrial policy marks a sharp departure from the rule-based international trade order under the G eneral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the World Trade Organization sinc e 1947. Yet despite costly tariffs and hundreds of billions of dollars in s ubsidies\, the economic results remain uncertain\, while concerns over infl ation\, trade conflict\, and market distortion continue to grow. Current de bates in economics\, politics\, and trade law have focused largely on wheth er tariffs and subsidies are desirable. Far less attention has been paid to a more fundamental question: whether the United States possesses the legal and institutional capacity to implement industrial policy effectively.
This Article addresses that question through the General Theory of Law a nd Development\, a framework that examines how law\, broader legal framewor ks\, and institutions shape economic and social transformation. It argues t hat contemporary U.S. industrial policy is structurally inadequate to achie ve its stated objectives due to serious legal and institutional deficiencie s undermining effective implementation\, coordination\, and policy coherenc e. These deficiencies also generate significant tensions with both domestic and international legal obligations\, as illustrated by the Supreme Court’ s recent decision in Learning Resources\, Inc. v. Trump. The Artic le develops foundational elements of a new legal and institutional framewor k for industrial promotion grounded in international collaboration\, econom ic rationality\, and institutional coordination.
Y.S. Lee is a lawyer\, economist\, and international relations scholar with in ternationally-recognized authority in law and development and international trade law. He is currently a full-time\, tenure-track faculty member and t he Arthur S. Dayton Faculty Fellow at the West Virginia University College of Law and serves as Director and Professorial Fellow of the Law and Develo pment Institute. He earned his undergraduate degree in economics with acade mic distinction from the University of California\, Berkeley\, and received his law degrees (B.A.\, M.A.\, Ph.D.) from the University of Cambridge. Au thor of Reclaiming Development in the World Trading System (Cambri dge University Press\, 3d ed. forthcoming 2026)\, Safeguard Measures in World Trade: The Legal Analysis (Edward Elgar\, 4th ed. 2025)\, and < em>Law and Development: Theory and Practice (Routledge\, 2d ed. 2022)\ , Professor Lee has over one hundred thirty scholarly publications in the a reas of international trade law and economic development\, comparative law\ , and international commercial arbitration. His recent work has been focuse d on the impact that domestic and international legal systems\, including t he legal framework for international trade\, has on economic development. H e has also developed the concept of microtrade\, a new system of internatio nal trade designed to alleviate populations of the least-developed countrie s of extreme poverty. He is currently an associate editor of the Journa l of World Trade and the founding editor-in-chief of the Law and D evelopment Review.
A light lunch will be provided. Please register here.
A Harvard ID is requi red in order to enter Harvard Law School buildings. If you have questions\, please contact eals@law.harvard.edu in advance of the event.
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