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Cnooc-Unocal And The Wto: Discriminatory Rules In The China Protocol Are A Latent Threat To The Rule Of Law In The Dispute Settlement Understanding, Thomas P. Holt

Washington International Law Journal

In the summer of 2005, the Chinese state-owned oil company CNOOC, Ltd. (“CNOOC”) attempted to purchase American-owned Unocal Corporation on very favorable terms. There was a serious problem with the merger, however—the U.S. Congress was not about to let the People’s Republic of China (“China”) buy up an American company, no matter how much it was willing to pay. Following a period of increasingly heated rhetoric about the deal, the U.S. Congressman representing competitor Chevron Corporation’s home district inserted a provision in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that was intended to, and did, scuttle the deal. The U.S. Congress’ …