There are some recent comments of mine picked up in the press over the last few days (24-31 May 2015). First is an editorial in the Toronto Globe and Mail on the state of Canada-Japan trade talks. To read the comment, click here. Second is a piece by Mike Blanchfield of the Canadian Press on… Read More »
We are getting down to the wire on a possible Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal. Top negotiators from all TPP countries are meeting in Guam 15-26 May to try to put some of the final touches on the accord. A lot of things still have to fall into place, notably the US Congress granting long-delayed negotiating… Read More »
There are over 2,500 bilateral investment treaties that incorporate investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms. These allow foreign investors to bring binding arbitration against host-States for allegedly unfair or arbitrary actions (laws or other measures) affecting the value of their investments. There’s growing concern among informed persons over this entrenched model, as I’ve commented on before.… Read More »
I find it odd that the Canadian business community hasn’t said anything about the moves in the US Congress to use trade sanctions to counter alleged exchange rate manipulation by other countries as a way of stimulating their exports. This issue has been a bug-bear to US politician for years, principally focused on China. The… Read More »
It’s called “fast-track” but it’s no such thing. What’s unfolding in the US Congress is bizarre. The rationale behind fast track – or Trade Promotion Authority – is to give the President a Congressional mandate to negotiate and sign trade agreements with the assurance that, once signed, the Americans wont then come back to the negotiating… Read More »
Further to my post below (23 March 2015), there is growing concern in well-informed legal and public policy circles over the recent Bilcon v. Canada arbitration award under NAFTA Chapter 11. These concerns are fueling opposition to investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) as constituted in the NAFTA and a wide array of other investment treaties, with… Read More »
A lot of media discussion about international trade gets caught up in process – the events at the WTO in Geneva, the next meeting of trade negotiators, plans for the next ministerial gathering, what’s happening in the various forums with confusing acronyms – TPP, CETA, NAFTA, ASEAN, APEC, and on and on. Trying to make… Read More »
I was quoted in a Globe and Mail article by Shawn McCarthy, 24 March 2015, reporting on Canada’s loss in a NAFTA arbitration over a quarry and marine terminal that the Province of Nova Scotia refused to approve: There is a growing concern in legal circles that the arbitration panels are expanding their mandate –… Read More »
A NAFTA arbitration panel has decided against Canada in a long-standing investment dispute over a large coastal quarry and marine project in Nova Scotia that had been turned down over environmental and social concerns (Clayton/Bilcon v. Canada). A majority of the panel said that Canada and Nova Scotia breached the minimum standard of treatment under… Read More »
In an op-ed piece in the Financial Post (Toronto) on March 19, 2015, I discuss the machinations in the US Congress and the implications of the various political aspects surrounding the lack – so far – of the US administration’s authority to negotiate free trade agreements. This has a major bearing on the current Trans-Pacific… Read More »