The proliferation of bilateral international investment agreements (IIAs) globally, with their binding Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions, means that investment arbitrations will be an ongoing feature of business relations in many parts of the world. Even if some countries are terminating their IIAs, investment arbitrations will continue, the challenge for governments being to respond to… Read More »
This is a column of mine in the Globe and Mail (Toronto), 25 January 2021, about the Keystone XL permit cancellation, commenting on how calls for Canadian “sanctions” or “retaliation” made by the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan make no sense. As well, neither the WTO Agreement nor CUSMA provide legal justification for this kind… Read More »
Peace in the Trade Valley-FP Comment 13 Aug 2020 This is a comment in the Financial Post, 13 August 2020, explaining how privately-driven trade disputes (like dumping and subsidy complaints) will continue even if Washington and Beijing conclude some kind of trade armistice. The WTO Agreement plus countless investment treaties worldwide allow private parties to… Read More »
This article is a summary of the state of investment disputes under the so-called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) systems in various treaties to which Canada is party. It looks at current win-loss record for Canada and deals with the phase out of NAFTA investment disputes under the new Canada-US-Mexico Trade Agreement or CUSMA. While these… Read More »
This commentary, published by the C. D. Howe Institute, deals with investor claims under NAFTA Chapter 11 and assesses Canada’s win-loss record over the past 25 years. These arbitrations are coming to an end under the new NAFTA – or CUSMA as it’s called in Canada. I say that’s a welcome development. NAFTA Investment Disputes-Bringing… Read More »
Here is a commentary in the Globe and Mail, 4 March 2019, on the latest investment dispute panel decision in the Clayton-Bilcon case and the fact that these arbitrations are ending under the new NAFTA – the USMCA or CUSMA as Canada calls it. Overall, Canada has been targeted many more times than Mexico by… Read More »
The investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) part of the CETA is the focus of Wallonia’s objections to the deal. We can actually solve that roadblock. ISDS was never a sine qua non for Canada. We replicated the NAFTA model (making some later improvements) without any real thought or analysis of whether the Canadian investment community saw ISDS as… Read More »
There was a most unfortunate development in October 2016 preventing the European side from approving the Canada-EU trade agreement, formally known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). On 24 October, tiny Wallonia refused to allow Belgium to agree to the CETA, resulting in a cancellation of the planned treaty signature the same week… Read More »