Trade policy, like many other arenas, has developed a complicated language that can be impenetrable or, at best, opaque to outsiders.  Some aspects, especially those touching on law, have extra layers of jargon. While trade dispute settlement systems can be quite important and have been frequently in the news over the past few years, it can be hard to follow the arguments.  Talking Trade will be running a multi-part set of blog posts to help unravel the situation and make it easier for you to follow evolving developments.  Let’s dive in with some background to help set the context…The international trading system has had to overcome multiple challenges to function and remain effective.  Governments have strong incentives to cheat or, as they would put it, to strongly prioritize their own economy and companies over the affairs of others.  But if everyone is busy protecting their own, the net result is much worse for everyone. This basic tension between keeping markets open despite individual incentives for closure has been a key element of the system for decades.  Now, the long-standing the consensus in favor of freer trade has started to fray with far more serious trade disputes ahead.