University Distinguished Professor to examine ‘America First’ influence on trade law
LAWRENCE — As one of the world’s foremost international trade law scholars and teachers, Raj Bhala is the first University of Kansas School of Law professor to earn the title of University Distinguished Professor. Bhala is renowned for his scholarship in trade law, law and literature, and Islamic law, and he has written 13 books and over 100 law review articles.
Bhala will focus on aspects of his international trade law scholarship during his inaugural University Distinguished Professor lecture, “Deceitful Destruction of International Trade Law: America First and Xenophobic Autarky,” which will take place at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 15 in the Kansas Union’s Kansas Room on the sixth level. Individuals can register to attend the lecture in person or via livestream, and a recording of the lecture will be posted afterward on the Office of Faculty Affairs website.
During the lecture, Bhala will explore how international trade law is being destroyed, why it is happening and whether it is worth preserving.
“I will argue that trade law is being destroyed through a series of ‘America First’ unilateral trade measures, which violate international — and in some cases U.S. — law due to xenophobic autarky,” Bhala said. “By that I mean a misguided impulse to onshore or reshore industries and jobs in lieu of trade (autarky) owing to a distrust, even dislike, of foreign sources of goods and services (xenophobia). Preserving trade law is important because destroying legal rules and diplomatic norms hurts the U.S. by eroding its economy and political soft power and its hard power military alliances.”
Bhala’s publications embody signature themes in each of his specialties. In trade, he highlights why attention to the interests of poor countries matters, explores the link between trade and national security and connects practical issues to Catholic social justice theory. In his work in law and literary classics in the Western canon (especially Shakespeare), he trisects the field of law “and” literature into interpretation (law “as” literature), themes (law “in” literature) and rhetoric (law “with” literature). In Islamic law, which he taught to U.S. special operations forces as well as at the School of Law, he explores the distinction between authentic and inauthentic dogmas and identifies common themes across the Abrahamic faiths. In all his work, Bhala insists on a lawyer-like, nonpartisan, non-“ad hominem” approach.
Among Bhala's published articles are three trilogies, on precedent “stare decisis” (the principle that courts should adhere to previously decided cases) in international trade law, the failed Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations and India’s inconsistent trade law and policy, plus a major piece on Brexit, and one on literary criticism and treaty interpretation. His upcoming lecture draws from his latest research, including two forthcoming articles in the Texas International Law Journal on U.S. tariff policy during the second administration of President Donald Trump.
Among Bhala’s books is the sixth revised edition of “International Trade Law: A Comprehensive E-Textbook," all eight volumes of which are available via Open Access on KU ScholarWorks and used at over 100 law schools around the world. He also wrote the two-volume “Modern GATT Law,” the first treatise on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in nearly 50 years; “Trade War: Causes, Conduct, and Consequences of Sino-American Confrontation,” the first comprehensive analysis of a seemingly forever trade war between the U.S. and China; and “Understanding Islamic Law (Sharī‘a),” the first textbook in the field written by a non-Muslim American legal scholar. Bhala's current book project is “Principles of Law, Literature, and Rhetoric: A Shakespearean Approach.”
Bhala has taught around the world, including on both sides of hot zones in India and Pakistan, China and Taiwan and Israel and Arab countries. He is widely quoted in the world’s media, including the Associated Press, Bloomberg, Reuters, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Business Insider, Financial Times (London), The Globe and Mail (Toronto) and numerous international outlets.
Bhala was born in Toronto and is of Indian (Punjabi) and Celtic (Scottish-Irish) heritage. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Duke University, was a Marshall Scholar in England and obtained a master’s degree at the London School of Economics and Oxford (Trinity College). His juris doctor is from Harvard University. Bhala practiced international banking law at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he twice won the President’s Award for Excellence for his work on payment systems, and for his service as a United States delegate to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law to draft a Model Law on International Credit Transfers.
Bhala “has been blessed to be a member” of churches in New York; Washington, D.C.; Lawrence and Kansas City. He has completed 115 marathons, including Boston twice, New York twice, Chicago twice and Berlin and London. He is an active cross-trainer and hiker and serves on the fitness committee of the Carriage Club of Kansas City, where he is also on the executive board and the Club’s treasurer.
“I’m deeply grateful to my family for their support,” Bhala said, “especially my wife, Dr. Kara Tan Bhala, and our daughter, Shera Bhala, a Dartmouth graduate, Fulbright Scholar and first-year law student and Dean’s Scholar at Vanderbilt. They teach me a lot. Plus, I have traveled to 50 countries, most of them with them. Who could ask for more?”
The first distinguished professorships were established at KU in 1958. A university distinguished professorship is awarded wholly based on merit, following exacting criteria. A complete list is available on the Distinguished Professor website.