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International Trade Law

NAFTA

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Us Trade Policy, China And The Wto (Foreword), Paolo Davide Farah Jan 2023

Us Trade Policy, China And The Wto (Foreword), Paolo Davide Farah

Book Chapters

In ‘U.S. Trade Policy, China and the WTO’, Nerina Boschiero addresses a key topic in contemporary international economic law and global governance. By focusing on a turning point in global politics and the shaping/framing of trade policy in the U.S.– the election of President Donald Trump sheds light on the tumultuous process of reshaping of global governance. The crisis of multilateralism has been discussed at length in academia and mainstream media. However, little attention has been paid to how the U.S. is reacting to the rise of China in the global order, in practical terms. In particular, focus …


Bizarre Love Triangle: The Trilateral Responses To Tame The United States-Mexico Border, James M. Cooper Jan 2022

Bizarre Love Triangle: The Trilateral Responses To Tame The United States-Mexico Border, James M. Cooper

Faculty Scholarship

This article explores the role that multilateral agreements among Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and bilateral agreements between the United States and Mexico, have played along the border. Part I of this article explores the Washington Consensus and the culture of accumulation, plunder, and extractivism that it has engendered. Part II delves into various economic integration pacts that are part of the Washington Consensus starting with the NAFTA, then the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), and finally, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. It concludes that neither agreement make the border safer, nor make its working people more prosperous.


When Drills And Pipelines Cross Indigenous Lands In The Americas, Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez May 2021

When Drills And Pipelines Cross Indigenous Lands In The Americas, Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez

Faculty Scholarship

From the Missouri River, passing through the Sonora Desert, all the way down to the Amazon Forest and the Andean Mountains, drills and pipelines are crossing over indigenous lands. In an energy-thirsty continent, there is no land left to spare, not even tribal land. Many of these energy infrastructure projects involve international investments that are protected by treaties and enforced by arbitral tribunals. At the same time, tribal communities have an internationally recognized right to receive prior and informed consultation before they are affected by projects of this nature. The Article focuses on the clash of rights between energy extraction …


A Comparative Study Of Trademarks: Usmca (U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement) And Nafta (North American Free Trade Agreement), Roberto Rosas Apr 2020

A Comparative Study Of Trademarks: Usmca (U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement) And Nafta (North American Free Trade Agreement), Roberto Rosas

Faculty Articles

The definition of a trademark has expanded under the U.S. -Mexico-Canada Agreement ("USMCA "'), which provides more protection for rights holders. Currently, these three countries are bound by the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA"'), which has a narrow definition for trademarks. The North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA"'), which came into effect on January 1, 1994, was a significant agreement between some of the largest, strongest, and well-developed economies in the world: United States and Canada. It also helped to invigorate Mexico's future economic development. NAFTA's broad purpose was to regulate the exchange of capital, goods, and services across …


Misaligned Lawmaking, Timothy Meyer Jan 2020

Misaligned Lawmaking, Timothy Meyer

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article makes three contributions. First, it introduces the Misalignment Thesis in the context of U.S. trade policy. The Misalignment Thesis is a descriptive claim about how the structure of a legislative bargain influences the long-term stability and effectiveness of that bargain. Second, the Article introduces the normative corollary to the Misalignment Thesis: if political stability hinges on respecting the legislative bargain, interdependent policies should be subject to renegotiation on the same timeline and implementation on the same terms. In light of this prescription, I offer three concrete proposals for aligning trade liberalization and trade adjustment assistance in order to …


The Footprint Of The Chinese Petro-Dragon: The Future Of Investment Law In Transboundary Resources, Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez Jan 2020

The Footprint Of The Chinese Petro-Dragon: The Future Of Investment Law In Transboundary Resources, Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez

Faculty Scholarship

Chinese offshore investments in the oil and gas sector around the world are on the rise. Like dragons roaming the seas trying to dominate the tides, Chinese state-owned companies are particularly eager to bid for oil fields in maritime borderlines. The article tells the story of how Chinese state-owned companies are over paying for oil on the US-Mexico boundary to gather experience on how China’s global competitors handle resource development conflicts. My argument is that Chinese participation in transboundary field development fits within a long-term strategy to master international legal regimes. The presence of these petro-dragons in borderlines is an …


Withdrawing From Nafta, Alison Peck Mar 2019

Withdrawing From Nafta, Alison Peck

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Since the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw from NAFTA. Can he? The question is complex. For one thing, NAFTA is not a treaty negotiated under the Treaty Clause of the Constitution, but rather a congressional–executive agreement, a creature of dubious con- stitutionality and ill-defined withdrawal and termination parameters. This Article reviews the scope of those restrictions and concludes that unilateral presidential withdrawal from NAFTA, although not without support, is ultimately unlawful. On one hand, unilateral presidential withdrawal would be valid as a matter of international law, and the NAFTA Implementation Act appears to be designed to terminate …


The Intricate Relationship Between Intellectual Property Exhaustion And Free Movement Of Goods In Regional Organizations: Comparing The Eu/Eea, Nafta, And Asean, Irene Calboli Feb 2019

The Intricate Relationship Between Intellectual Property Exhaustion And Free Movement Of Goods In Regional Organizations: Comparing The Eu/Eea, Nafta, And Asean, Irene Calboli

Faculty Scholarship

This article explores the relationship between national rules on the exhaustion of intellectual property (IP) rights and cross-border trade within regional organizations. In particular, this article compares three distinct approaches adopted by: the European Union (EU); the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA); and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Based on this comparison, this article concludes that in order to effectively promote the free movement of goods, members of regional organizations need to consistently adopt national policies on IP exhaustion that support, at least, a system of regional exhaustion such as currently found in the EU. However, …


The Law And Politics Of Socially Inclusive Trade, Timothy Meyer Jan 2019

The Law And Politics Of Socially Inclusive Trade, Timothy Meyer

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

American ambivalence toward international institutions is nothing new. In his farewell address, George Washington famously warned against foreign entanglements. After World War I, the U.S. Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles, leaving the United States outside the formal post-war order it helped establish and neutering the new League of Nations. Throughout the late twentieth century, the United States refused to ratify multilateral agreements ranging from the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to a host of human rights agreements. Nor did the dawn of the twenty-first century change the …


Impacts Of Investment Treaties On Health And Human Rights, Gus Van Harten Jan 2019

Impacts Of Investment Treaties On Health And Human Rights, Gus Van Harten

Articles & Book Chapters

While investment treaties could help protect health and promote human rights, they are rather often used as a means to discourage governments from taking action. The treaties allow foreign investors to initiate investor-state dispute settlement (or ISDS) proceedings against states for their legislative, executive, administrative, and judicial decisions at any level. Thus, they provide a powerful tool for “foreign” investors to frustrate state action in virtually any area, including health and human rights. This article describes how ISDS provisions have impacted health-related decision- making by states and, in so doing, weakened their abilities to fulfill their human rights obligations.


Restoring Trade's Social Contract, Timothy Meyer, Frank J. Garcia Jan 2018

Restoring Trade's Social Contract, Timothy Meyer, Frank J. Garcia

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

As we write, the United States, Canada, and Mexico are renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). These talks—and their possible failure—represent the biggest shift in U.S. economic policy in a generation. Since NAFTA came into force in 1994, it has transformed the North American economy. NAFTA has made possible continent-wide supply chains, in industries like the auto sector, that have reduced costs and allowed American automakers to remain competitive; it has opened markets for American agriculture; it has greatly increased the standard of living in Mexico; and it has reduced consumer prices across the continent. Despite these gains, …


Separation Of Trade Law Powers, Kathleen Claussen Jan 2018

Separation Of Trade Law Powers, Kathleen Claussen

Articles

No abstract provided.


Transcanada Lawsuit Highlights Need To Scuttle Tpp, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Brooke Güven, Lisa E. Sachs Jul 2016

Transcanada Lawsuit Highlights Need To Scuttle Tpp, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Brooke Güven, Lisa E. Sachs

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The Obama administration is still trying, against the odds, to push the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade and investment agreement (TPP) through the lame-duck session of Congress after the November presidential vote. The administration knows that TPP can’t pass before the election because both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump oppose it; therefore, they are hoping for a stealth Senate vote between the election and inauguration of the new president in 2017.We can therefore “thank” TransCanada for reminding us why the TPP needs to be scuttled.


Tpp Would Let Foreign Investors Bypass The Canadian Public Interest, Lisa E. Sachs, Lise Johnson Nov 2015

Tpp Would Let Foreign Investors Bypass The Canadian Public Interest, Lisa E. Sachs, Lise Johnson

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In early October, prime ministerial candidate Justin Trudeau promised Canadians “a full and open public debate” on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. With 30 chapters that would bind Canada to sweeping agreements on everything from services to intellectual property to the environment to procurement, there is much to debate.


The Tpp’S Investment Chapter: Entrenching, Rather Than Reforming, A Flawed System, Lise Johnson, Lisa E. Sachs Nov 2015

The Tpp’S Investment Chapter: Entrenching, Rather Than Reforming, A Flawed System, Lise Johnson, Lisa E. Sachs

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

During the negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, many stakeholders raised strong concerns about the Investment Chapter of the TPP, and in particular, the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism (ISDS). The US Trade Representative (USTR) and other representatives of the negotiating partners assured the stakeholders that the TPP’s investment chapter would respond to the legitimate concerns about expansive investor protections and ISDS. The actual text, however, when made public, showed the opposite: a further evisceration of the role of domestic policy, institutions, and constituents. In their current form, the TPP’s substantive investment protections and ISDS pose significant potential costs to …


Eyes Wide Shut On Isds, Lisa E. Sachs, Lise Johnson Apr 2015

Eyes Wide Shut On Isds, Lisa E. Sachs, Lise Johnson

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Recent agreement among congressional leaders on a “fast-track” bill may have been a victory for the Obama administration’s trade agenda. However, members of congress should take a look at the recent Bilcon case, decided by a NAFTA tribunal, to understand what they are signing up for.


New Weaknesses: Despite A Major Win, Arbitration Decisions In 2014 Increase The Us’S Future Exposure To Litigation And Liability, Lise Johnson Jan 2015

New Weaknesses: Despite A Major Win, Arbitration Decisions In 2014 Increase The Us’S Future Exposure To Litigation And Liability, Lise Johnson

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In 2014, the US continued its overall record of success in defending investment treaty claims. But it did suffer losses on a number of important issues, and those losses will render the US (and its treaty parties) vulnerable to future claims, litigation expense, and liability. The US’s recent losses, which have thus far been largely ignored in commentary on the US’s experiences in investment arbitration, are highlighted in this briefing note.


Mobil V. Canada – Ratcheting Down The Scope Of Treaty Reservations, Lise Johnson Sep 2013

Mobil V. Canada – Ratcheting Down The Scope Of Treaty Reservations, Lise Johnson

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

As part of States’ efforts to strike a balance in their international investment agreements (IIAs) between the obligations they assume and the rights and policy space they wish to retain, some adjoin annexes to their treaties to protect their ability to take “Non-Conforming Measures” (NCMs). States have generally: used such annexes to make exceptions to non-discrimination obligations, market access restrictions and performance requirements; have included the ability to grandfather in NCMs existing at the time an IIA enters into force; and have provided for the ability to maintain, amend, and enact new NCMs in specifically identified sectors, sub-sectors, activities, or …


Looking At Regional Trade Agreements Through The Lens Of Gender, Constance Z. Wagner Jan 2012

Looking At Regional Trade Agreements Through The Lens Of Gender, Constance Z. Wagner

All Faculty Scholarship

This article focuses on an unresolved issue within international trade law and policy, namely whether there is a need to consider gender-differentiated impacts of trade agreements and if so, how such impacts should be addressed. The author argues in favor of a gender aware approach to trade, discussing this topic within the context of regional trade agreements (“RTAs”), which are being used increasingly as a route to economic integration among nations. While there is evidence of gender-differentiated impacts of trade liberalization, there has been little progress made in advancing an agenda to address gender issues at the level of multilateral …


The North American Free Trade Agreement And Its Legacy On The Resolution Of Intellectual Property Disputes, James Cooper Jan 2012

The North American Free Trade Agreement And Its Legacy On The Resolution Of Intellectual Property Disputes, James Cooper

Faculty Scholarship

This essay focuses on NAFTA and the contributions that this regional trade pact made to protect IPR and settle intellectual property (IP) disputes. It also explores the legacy of NAFTA in the context of the eventual WTO, and the rights provided by the TRIPS Agreement that was concluded as part of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations. Section II provides a brief historical background on how NAFTA fit into the world as countries began aligning themselves by creating various trade agreements. Section III surveys the provisions and legacy of NAFTA with respect to …


Nafta And The U.S.-Mexican Trucking Dispute, Robert J. Carbaugh Jun 2011

Nafta And The U.S.-Mexican Trucking Dispute, Robert J. Carbaugh

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Business

Although the charter of the North American Free Trade Agreement established a schedule that would have opened the border states of the United States to competition from Mexican trucking companies in 1995, and all of the United States to this competition in 2000, the full implementation of these provisions has been delayed due to concerns about the safety of Mexican trucks and drivers. This delay has resulted in much frustration for Mexico, which, in 2009 implemented retaliatory tariffs on products imported from the United States. In March, 2011 the two countries unveiled a deal to resolve this dispute which could …


Expanding The Nafta Chapter 19 Dispute Settlement System: A Way To Declaw Trade Remedy Laws In A Free Trade Area Of The Americas?, Stephen J. Powell Apr 2010

Expanding The Nafta Chapter 19 Dispute Settlement System: A Way To Declaw Trade Remedy Laws In A Free Trade Area Of The Americas?, Stephen J. Powell

UF Law Faculty Publications

Chapter 19 of the NAFTA transfers judicial review of U.S., Canadian, and Mexican government investigations under the controversial anti-dumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) laws from national courts to binational panels of private international law experts. The system stands as a unique surrender of judicial sovereignty to an international body, a hybrid of national courts and international dispute settlement with as yet no parallel in the world of international trade or other international law regimes. Binational panel decisions have been controversial because agencies chafe at their intimate examination of agency findings and supporting evidence. Panels also are viewed as substantially more …


Globalization And The Border: Trade, Labor, Migration, And Agricultural Production In Mexico, Chantal Thomas Jan 2010

Globalization And The Border: Trade, Labor, Migration, And Agricultural Production In Mexico, Chantal Thomas

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The debate over immigration policy in the United States has reached a crescendo in recent years, with particular concern over illegal workers and their impact on social well-being in this country. Yet in the prevailing analysis of this issue, the relationship between immigration and contemporary international trade policy is often overlooked. In particular, few commentators recognize or understand that a significant part of the surge in illegal labor from Mexico--the source of the majority of undocumented workers in the United States—stems from reforms that Mexico undertook in cooperation with the United States to liberalize trade flows across the Mexico-United States …


From Gats To Apec: The Impact Of Trade Agreements On Legal Services, Laurel S. Terry Jan 2010

From Gats To Apec: The Impact Of Trade Agreements On Legal Services, Laurel S. Terry

Journal Articles

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the treatment of legal services in the United States’ international trade agreements. Although many individuals are now familiar with the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), far fewer realize that legal services are included in at least fifteen international trade agreements to which the United States is a party. This article begins by identifying those trade agreements and other developments including the 2009 Legal Services Initiative of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). The article continues by explaining the structure of the GATS and comparing its provisions to the provisions found in …


Alternative Methods Of Appellate Review In Trade Remedy Cases: Examining Results Of U.S. Judicial And Nafta Binational Review Of U.S. Agency Decisions From 1989 To 2005, Juscelino F. Colares Jan 2008

Alternative Methods Of Appellate Review In Trade Remedy Cases: Examining Results Of U.S. Judicial And Nafta Binational Review Of U.S. Agency Decisions From 1989 To 2005, Juscelino F. Colares

Faculty Publications

When the United States and Canada agreed to replace U.S. judicial review of trade-remedy cases with a new dispute mechanism under Chapter 19 of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (now the North American Free Trade Agreement), the U.S. Congress and trade negotiators expected that the new dispute settlement panels would apply U.S. law and the standard of review in the same manner as U.S. courts. This requirement was embodied in the text of the agreement and has at least nominally been applied by Chapter 19 panels ever since. Empirical analysis of seventeen years of decisions now allows a conclusion …


Corporate Restrictions In Mexico And The United States, Dennis Rios Jan 2007

Corporate Restrictions In Mexico And The United States, Dennis Rios

LLM Theses and Essays

Mexico and the United States have had throughout their history very different experiences in their international relations and thus different approaches towards foreign investment. Both Mexican and American corporations looking to invest in each others countries have to face several restrictions in their attempt to conduct business. These restrictions are constantly changing as the needs and circumstances in each country change. The United States throughout most of its history has had for the most part, a very open policy towards foreign investment. Mexico has been throughout most of its history, on the other side, adopting very restrictive measures towards foreign …


Empiricism And International Law: Insights For Investment Treaty Dispute Resolution, Susan Franck Jan 2007

Empiricism And International Law: Insights For Investment Treaty Dispute Resolution, Susan Franck

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

While scholars in the United States increasingly focus on the empirical dimension of legal scholarship, there have been challenges in using empiricism to explore international legal issues. Rather than relying on logic or instinct alone, empirical methodologies can provide scholars with tools to gain new facts, see existing ideas through a different lens, and engage in a more nuanced analysis of international law phenomena. There appears to be a natural synergy between empiricism and international investment treaty dispute resolution. With calls for trade time outs by U.S. presidential candidates, there is interest in how investment treaties function, whether they achieve …


Foreign Direct Investment, Investment Treaty Arbitration, And The Rule Of Law, Susan Franck Jan 2007

Foreign Direct Investment, Investment Treaty Arbitration, And The Rule Of Law, Susan Franck

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

In the last decade, there has been a surge in the number of multi-lateral and bilateral investment treaties governments have signed; meanwhile there have been dramatic increases in the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI); and, more recently, the number of claims brought under investment treaties has spiked. This Article examines the relationship amongst these factors and is the first to review the emerging empirical economic literature investigating whether investment treaties achieve their goal of promoting FDI. The Article then specifically evaluates the impact that the procedural right to arbitrate investment claims plays in the process of promoting FDI and …


Between Dialogue And Decree: International Review Of National Courts, Robert B. Ahdieh Dec 2004

Between Dialogue And Decree: International Review Of National Courts, Robert B. Ahdieh

Faculty Scholarship

Recent years have seen dramatic growth in the number of international tribunals at work across the globe, from the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, to the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Claims in Switzerland and the International Criminal Court. With this development has come both increased opportunity for interaction between national and international courts and increased occasion for conflict. Such friction was evident in the recent decision in Loewen Group, Inc. v. United States, in which an arbitral panel constituted under the North American Free Trade Agreement found …


Un Enfoque Comparativo Sobre La Formacion De Los Contratos Electronicos, Roberto Rosas Jan 2004

Un Enfoque Comparativo Sobre La Formacion De Los Contratos Electronicos, Roberto Rosas

Faculty Articles

Understanding the basic principles governing the formation of contracts is of paramount importance when it comes to figuring out the most appropriate to enter into a new contract or to assess the legality of a contract existing ones. While the basic rules for the forming of general contracts are applicable to most type of contracts, regardless of how they are done, there are some legal rules that apply specify to contracts concluded electronically.