Law Commons^™

Nafta's Double Standard Of Review, Juscelino F. Colares

Faculty Publications

Chapter 19 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) replaced court review of U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties with binding review by special binational panels of trade experts. It requires these panels to apply the same standard of review that U.S. courts use in trade remedy cases. Despite the centrality of this requirement to the Chapter 19 panel system, these panels have not adhered to this mandate. Chapter 19 panels overturn U.S. agency rulings much more often than the courts. In fact, they apply two different standards of review: exacting scrutiny where foreign producers and governments appeal, and near-absolute …