Fighting Bad Guys with International Trade Law

Abstract

Foreign drug kingpins, rogue dictators; state-sponsored terrorists. These "bad guys" are the leading threats to America's national security, replacing the old Soviet Union and a China that is no longer "Red." Conceptually, fighting the new bad guys is not as easy as fighting the old threats: "nuking" the Soviet Union or China always remained an option, however foolish. Overwhelming military force, however, was not designed to handle unconventional threats posed by drug dealers and terrorists and may be an inappropriate method of containing or crushing some dictators. Increasingly, the United States is turning to a new unilateral weapon - international trade measures - regardless of opposition from its allies and trading partners.