Anti-arbitration, Anti-ISDS Propaganda, Canada, China, Financial Industry, Investor-State arbitration, ISDS, Mexico, NAFTA, Negotiation, Pro arbitration, United States, USMCA

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Debates about the propriety of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) were revived by a recent letter by U.S. academics, which urged the abandonment of ISDS in the renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This letter repeated arguments that are familiar from prior ISDS debates, such as that ISDS “grants foreign corporations and investors rights to skirt domestic…

Australia, CAFTA, Indonesia, KORUS, TPP, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Treaty, UNCLOS, United States, VCLT, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vietnam

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In the United States, approval prospects may appear bleak for the Trans-Pacific Partnership  Agreement (“TPP”) – at least at present. The current political climate appears generally negative on trade, and even Vice President Joe Biden stated recently that he saw “less than an even chance” that TPP would be approved before the new U.S. president…

Canada, Egypt, Free Trade Agreements, ICSID Arbitration, NAFTA, TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership

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On June 6, 2016, the ICSID Secretary General registered a request for arbitration in Global Telecom Holding (GTH) v. Canada. Although the text of the arbitral claim is not yet public, it appears likely that the dispute relates to GTH’s involvement (or attempted involvement) in Canada’s wireless telecommunications sector. This claim may be historic for…

Amicus Curiae, Enforcement, International Court of Justice, International Courts, Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, ITLOS, Model BIT, TPP, U.S. Supreme Court, Venezuela

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Recently the U.S. Executive Branch made headlines by agreeing with Venezuela. In particular, the Executive Branch filed an amicus curiae submission in New York federal appeals court in which it agreed with Venezuela regarding the treatment of ICSID awards in U.S. courts. According to the U.S. Executive (and Venezuela), a party seeking recognition of an…

Australia, Canada, CETA, China, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

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by Catherine H. Gibson (Assistant Editor for North America) The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement (official text here) is one in a series of significant investment agreements that the United States will negotiate in the coming months and years – next in line are the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) Agreement and the United States-China bilateral…

BIT, Canada, CETA, China, Free Trade Agreements

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If the Canada-China BIT is any guide, then the US-China BIT may prove to be profoundly state-friendly. Unlike Canada’s 2004 model investment agreement and the investment chapter of the 2014 Canada-European Union Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement (CETA), the Canada-China BIT offers only negligible establishment-phase protections and lacks disciplines on state-owned enterprises. With such provisions,…