Search

The United States’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) introduces new eligibility requirements for existing USD 7,500 tax-credit provided to electric vehicles. The new requirements condition the credit upon North American final assembly and North American-sourced materials and components. As tensions flare between the US and China, these new local content requirements reflect the US’s effort to establish a supply chain for electric vehicles that circumvents China. The blow, however, is felt elsewhere, namely by South Korean auto makers whose electric vehicle models are no longer eligible for the significant tax-credit necessary to compete in the American market. As South Korea considers submitting a complaint to relevant international bodies, this paper dissects the IRA’s relevant provisions and analyzes the applicability of international trade law rules of the WTO and the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement to the new local content requirements of the IRA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's straight baseline regime deviates from the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in a number of ways. Such discrepancies are likely to induce legal and political conflicts between countries, and also the settlement of which would not be easy, in particular, among the East Asian countries. In consideration of this point, the legal issues surrounding China's straight baselines and basepoints should be analyzed and evaluated not only from the perspectives of UNCLOS, but also through comparative analyses based on customary international law, State practices, and special circumstances. Many of China's State practices and laws based on straight baselines are neither in accordance with international laws, nor generally recognized as being in accordance with the international law of the sea. This paper provides important legal insights into China's straight baselines, which are unlawful from the perspectives of UNCLOS and State practices, and, in addition, suggest desirable ways to solve the problems in international laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]