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Is There Force In Force Majeure After Covid-19 Or In The Freedom To Negotiate Risk?, Sara Lazarevic

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

This note explores the impact COVID–19 has had on contracting parties who have attempted to implicate force majeure provisions. An inquiry of recent cases reveals varying degrees of success and tension when parties turn towards force majeure text. This Note analyzes common law alternatives, discusses the implication of force majeure clauses as applied under Mexican and American law, highlights the implications that have played out in recent court decisions, and discusses post–pandemic implications that could affect how parties conduct cross–border transactions in the future.

World Trade, Imperial Fantasies And Protectionism: Can You Really Have Your Cake And Eat It Too?, Csongor I. Nagy

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Populism is telling voters what they want to hear, knowing that it is neither true, nor feasible. Lately, trade and economic integration has seen the spread of untrue and unfeasible tenets, which have proved to be highly popular and have received a warm welcome. Fueled by imperial fantasies and nostalgia for the long-gone era of protectionism, the tectonic movements of world trade have generated a good deal of populist resistance based on the self-delusion that the Gordian knot of world trade needs not to be disentangled but can be simply cut. Unfortunately, however popular and appealing these allegations are, they …

Trump, Trade, And Trabajo: Renegotiating Nafta's Labor Accord In A Fraught Political Climate, Lance A. Compa

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Quitting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and demanding renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)- along with its supplemental labor pact, the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC)-were among the first actions of the new U.S. Administration in 2017. NAFTA renegotiations concluded for the time being-in October 2018 with announcement of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to replace NAFTA.

Controversial proposals on the bargaining table contained important implications for employment, labor rights, and labor standards in North America. This paper reviews the status of negotiations, the risks of losing the first-ever international instrument linking trade and labor standards …

Restoring Trade’S Social Contract, Timothy Meyer, Frank J. Garcia

Michigan Law Review Online

As we write this, U.S. trade policy is falling into deeper and deeper disarray. The United States, Canada, and Mexico are holding frenzied meetings to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). As recently as October 11, 2017, President Donald Trump warned that he will withdraw the United States from NAFTA if he does not get a deal that is “fair” to American workers. Indeed, the Trump Administration has already pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), threatened to withdraw from the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), and is holding the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s …

The North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta): Good For Jobs, For The Environment, And For America, Thomas J. Schoenbaum

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Expansion Of Nafta: Issues And Obstacles Regarding Accession By Latin American States And Associations, Brandy A. Bayer

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The "Giant Sucking Sound" Revisited: A Blueprint To Prevent Pollution Havens By Extending Nafta's Unheralded "Eco-Dumping" Provisions To The New World Trade Organization, Joel L. Silverman

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Status Of Bulk Water Exports Under Nafta, Binda Preet Sahni

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Prospects For Satisfactory Dispute Resolution Of Private Commercial Disputes Under The North American Free Trade Agreement, Jonathan I. Miller

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Nafta Chapter 19 Binational Panel Reviews - Still A Zero Sum Game: The Wire Rod Decision And Its Progeny, Edward Tracy

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

The North American Free Trade Agreemetn: Looking At The Binational Panel System Through The Lens Of Free Enterpresie Fund, John J. Garman, Matthew K. Bell

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

This paper examines the constitutionality of the binational panels of the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”) under the United States Constitution. Part I provides an overview of the binational panel process. Part II outlines the process for challenging the constitutionality of binational panels and the obstacles that must be overcome. Part III discusses possible violations of the Due Process Clause. Part IV analyzes the constitutionality of binational panels under Article II of the United States Constitution. Part V examines the constitutional implications of Article III with respect to the absence of judicial review. Part VI is a case-by-case analysis …

A Fundamental Misunderstanding: Fcc Implementation Of U.S. Wto Commitments, Laura B. Sherman

Federal Communications Law Journal

In bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, the United States has agreed to open the market for telecommunications services to foreign service suppliers, an obligation implemented by the FCC since 1998. In contrast, the United States has made no commitments with respect to broadcasting services or broadcast licenses. This article clarifies the different treatment of telecommunications services and broadcast services in U.S. trade obligations and FCC orders.

Don't Cross The Streams: Past And Present Overstatement Of Customary International Law In Connection With Conventional Fair And Equitable Treatment Obligations, Theodore Kill

Michigan Law Review

The obligation to provide fair and equitable treatment to foreign investors and investments has existed as a concept of international economic law at least since the 1919 Covenant of the League of Nations. The fair and equitable treatment provision is a key protection contained in the vast majority of modern bilateral investment treaties. Tribunals adjudicating alleged breaches of these fair and equitable treatment provisions have not arrived at a uniform interpretation of the term. As a threshold issue, however each tribunal must address the question of whether a state's obligations under a given treaty's fair and equitable treatment provision will …

An Evaluation Of Current Legitimacy-Based Objections To Nafta's Chapter 11 Investment Dispute Resolution Process, Naveen Gurudevan

San Diego International Law Journal

The year 1994 saw the conclusion of a very important trilateral trade and investment treaty in North America: the North American Free Trade Agreement. Since then, this agreement has had a tremendous impact on the trading relations among the three signatory states-the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Of particular significance is Chapter 11, the Investment Chapter. One of the main objectives of Chapter 11 is to provide an effective means for the resolution of disputes between a foreign investor and the host government. To this end, it provides a mechanism whereby private parties can initiate arbitration proceedings against the host …

The Next Privatization Of Public Assets: Domestic And Trade Implication Related To Water Right And Land Acquisition, Jennifer C. Gerbasi

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Meaning, Ambiguity And Legitimacy: Judicial (Re-)Construction Of Nafta Chapter 11, Ari Afilalo

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) benignly named the "Investment Chapter," is a theater for some of the most advanced issues of 21st century international law and adjudication. The Chapter gives private parties the right to challenge national policies that burden their ability to do business freely. It empowers arbitral tribunals to assess damages against the governments of NAFTA parties. The adjudicators, as this Article illustrates, render opinions with a constitutional flavor in that they assess the validity of domestic norms against larger principles of international economic law. In a drastic move away from classical century …

Structure, Legitimacy, And Nafta's Investment Chapter, Charles H. Brower, Ii

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In this Article, Professor Brower examines the investment chapter of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He argues that the relevant treaty provisions lack a substantial measure of textual clarity. In addition, he argues that ad hoc tribunals based on the commercial arbitration model have generated incoherent doctrine and are relatively less accountable, transparent, and accessible than permanent tribunals. Furthermore, he argues that the NAFTA Parties and their courts so far appear to place a higher priority on the pursuit of narrow self-interest than on the principled administration of international governance. Collectively, these circumstances help to explain the frequency …

Taking Stock Of Nafta Chapter 11 In Its Tenth Year, Jack J. Coe, Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into force on January 1, 1994. Its Eleventh Chapter establishes substantive guarantees and an arbitral mechanism by which qualifying investors may seek damages for breach of those guarantees. The much-discussed investor-state arbitration apparatus was first invoked in September 1996, and since then has been resorted to several times against each NAFTA state. Many cases have concluded, while others are nearing completion. Though a mature jurisprudence has by no means emerged, substantive trends have been established and several of Chapter l's distinctive features, strengths, and weaknesses have been illuminated.

NAFTA's investor-state docket has …

The Changing Labor Markets Of The Western Hemisphere: Labor Issues Relating To The Ftaa, Ann C. Hodges

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Does Free Trade Cause Hunger? Hidden Implications Of The Ftaa, Jonathan B. Wight

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

This division of labour, from which so many advantages are derived, is not originally the effects of any human wisdom, which forsees and intends that general opulence to which it gives occasion. It is the necessary, though very slow and gradual consequence of a certain propensity in human nature which has in view no such extensive utility; the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another.

Workers’ Rights: A Winding Road In The Trucking Dispute Between The United States And Mexico, Michael S. Plotkin

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of The Developments In Chapter 19 Antidumping Decisions Under The North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta): The Implications And Suggestions For Reform For The Next Century Based On The Experience Of Nafta After The First Five Years, Kenneth J. Pippin

Michigan Journal of International Law

This paper describes the themes in the Chapter 19 antidumping panel decisions that have developed over the first five years of NAFTA. Part I provides a brief overview of the Chapter 19 panel process and the method of antidumping determinations for each NAFTA party. Part II presents statistics on the number and types of antidumping panel decisions made under the first five years of NAFTA. Finally, Part III explores the most significant themes in the antidumping Chapter 19 panel decisions and discusses their implications for reforming the Chapter 19 panel process.

Is Nafta Up To Its Green Expectations? Effective Law Enforcement Under The North American Agreement On Environmental Cooperation, Beatriz Bugeda

University of Richmond Law Review

On January 1, 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the governments of Mexico, Canada and the United States went into effect. Together with this trade agreement, the governments of the three countries entered into a side agreement on the environment: the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC). This agreement, also known as the Environmental Side Agreement, responded to some of the concerns of NAFTA critics. Some environmentalists believed NAFTA would promote environmentally insensitive and uncontrolled growth, and others thought the liberalization of trade would be used as a means to preempt stringent domestic environmental regulations.

Getting Along: The Evolution Of Dispute Resolution Regimes In International Trade Organizations, Andrea Kupfer Schneider

Michigan Journal of International Law

In the face of the remarkable growth of international organizations in the last fifty years, scholars in multiple disciplines have sought to explain why and how states cooperate. Dispute resolution is one of the most crucial components of international cooperation. Examining the dispute resolution regimes of international organizations in light of these theories can inform and help reform these evolving regimes.

Priority Of Invention In United States Patents: From The Paris Convention To Gatt, John F. Carroll Iv

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Imagine the following: It's New Year's Eve, 1994, and as twilight falls you start to clean off your desk and get ready to go home. On top of your "Out" tray is a copy of a patent application for American Corporation that you filed with the Patent and Trademark Office last week. A-Corp., one of your largest clients, is the nation's largest manufacturer of business office furniture. The patent application is for A-Corp's new "Security Cabinet," a device that protects sensitive computer disks and video- tapes from electromagnetic contamination. The Security Cabinet was unveiled at an office supply trade show …

The Applicability Of Nepa To Nafta: Law, Politics, Or Economics?, Taunya L. Mclarty

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

The North American Free Trade Agreement: What It Means For U.S. Coal Exports, Moya Phelleps

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The North American Free Trade Agreement: A Market Analysis, Leonard Bierman, Donald R. Fraser, James W. Kolari

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was the subject of heated debate in the United States Congress. The central issue of the debate was whether NAFTA would have a positive or negative economic impact on the parties to the treaty. This Article is a direct empirical market analysis that measures the perceived economic impact of NAFTA on the parties to the agreement and other states. The authors use stock market event analysis to study the effect of NAFTA on different sectors of the economy of the United States, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and the Asia/Pacific region. In doing so, the …

Institutional Misfits: The Gatt, The Icj & Trade-Environment Disputes, Jeffrey L. Dunoff

Michigan Journal of International Law

The central thesis of this article is that neither trade bodies, like the GATT or NAFTA, nor adjudicatory bodies, like the ICJ or the proposed International Court for the Environment, ought to resolve these issues. Instead, trade-environment conflicts should be heard before an institution that recognizes the interdependent nature of global economic and environmental issues and that has a mandate to advance both economic development and environmental protection. This body should have ready access to the scientific and technical expertise that would enable it to resolve trade-environment disputes knowledgeably. It should possess tools to encourage nations to comply with its …

Old Wine, New Skins: Nafta And The Evolution Of International Trade Dispute Resolution, Andrew Kayumi Rosa

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note examines NAFTA's effort in meeting the needs of the moment (i.e., North American integration) and those of the future (i.e., hemispheric integration) regarding the issue of dispute resolution. Dispute resolution is key to any trade agreement; without an effective means of settling specific disputes and enforcing provisions generally, parties will have a little incentive to honor their trade commitments. Moreover, ineffective dispute resolution hurts smaller, less developed countries in agreements with larger, more developed countries, because the larger countries will be tempted to use their economic leverage to solve disputes to the disadvantage of the smaller ones. A …