My Cato colleague Bill Watson has a new paper in which he argues for the repeal of Section 337. Here is one part that I found particularly interesting:
... The ITC may soon become a vehicle for challenging extraterritorial conduct that is legal where it occurs but which would violate U.S. law if done within the United States. Common hypothetical examples include the use of child labor, environmental degradation, and bribery. Regardless of whether one approves of such practices, the moral sufficiency of foreign laws or law enforcement should not be reviewed by the ITC at the behest of commercial competitors seeking to exclude their rivals’ products from the U.S. market. Such suits are unlikely to lead to improved conditions abroad, but almost certainly will result in protectionist trade diversion at the expense of American consumers. Fortunately, no such claims have yet been made, but there is currently no obvious impediment under Section 337 to doing so.
How broad could Section 337 become if some creative lawyers put their minds to it?
