The Stakes of the Global Tax Deal for International Economic Governance, Richard Crawford Pugh Lecture on Tax Law & Policy at the University of San Diego Law School (March 18, 2025)

Abstract

These remarks, prepared for the Richard Crawford Pugh Lecture on Tax Law & Policy at the University of San Diego Law school, tell the story of how the global tax deal, which was agreed upon by over 140 countries in 2021, came to be. Specifically, they explore a new version of international economic governance--one aimed at a more equitable distribution of the gains from globalization from both international and intranational perspectives--that ultimately propelled its success. Importantly, however, the story of the global tax deal is a contingent one. The dissatisfaction with globalization that led towards tax multilateralism can just as easily lead to nations to turn inwards, away from all forms of international economic governance, as we are now seeing. And given today’s fraught political moment, these remarks also explore the alternative, and darker, geopolitical vision with which opponents of the global tax deal are aligning themselves, perhaps unknowingly.

Keywords: global tax deal, tax policy, neoliberalism, trade deal, tariffs, international economic governance