The United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (“USMCA” or the “Agreement”) was formed to promote growth in North American trade in a way that is beneficial to each of the state parties to the Agreement. However, as with any...more
International arbitration, when available and used strategically, adds leverage, especially in dealing with a government. Qualifying foreign investors in Mexico affected by the changes in the regulatory environment promoted...more
On January 29, 2021, Canada and the European Union (the “EU”) took additional steps to establish the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (the “CETA”)[i] by adopting four decisions required to implement its...more
On January 29, 2021, the EU and Canada adopted four important decisions to ready the novel Investment Court System (ICS) for disputes arising under the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)...more
Final amendments to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) were agreed to on Dec. 9, 2019, clearing the path for its approval in the U.S., most likely during the first trimester of 2020. Once approved by all three...more
The updated USMCA was signed on December 10, 2019. These are not business-as-usual times in the trading world. As we know, there is the ongoing trade war with China, Brazil and Argentina are back in the steel and aluminum...more
In Opinion 1/17 (CETA Ruling) on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the investment protections under CETA, signed by Canada and the European Union, are...more
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (“CETA”) is a free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union. While most of the treaty’s provisions have applied provisionally since September 21, 2017, the treaty’s...more
The business community, lawmakers and even workers across North America breathed a collective sigh of relief on October 1, 2018, after the renegotiated NAFTA agreement was unveiled. Following negotiations that had become...more
On 30 September, after an intensive, last-minute flurry of negotiations, Canada joined the United States and Mexico in a new trilateral agreement to replace the original North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA 1.0). ...more
On Sunday, September 30, President Trump reached an agreement with the governments of Canada and Mexico to revise and modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Publishing the text of the new agreement just...more
After more than a year of sometimes contentious negotiations, the United States, Mexico, and Canada (the “Parties”) reached an agreement late Sunday night to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”)—renaming...more
• After months of uncertainty, the United States, Mexico and Canada recently reached a new trilateral trade agreement, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement...more
On September 30, 2018, hours before a deadline that mandated the publication of a modernized NAFTA text, the United States, Mexico, and Canada agreed to an updated trade agreement after more than a year of negotiations. ...more
A tripartite agreement to save NAFTA has been reached. The agreement, reached late last night, provides Congress the necessary 60 days’ notice of the text to approve so that President Pena Nieto of Mexico can sign before he...more
Negotiations to reshape the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) among the United States, Canada and Mexico have recently intensified as various factors—upcoming elections in Mexico in July and in the United States in...more
With Davos 2018 in the rear view mirror, some analysts are pegging the “geopolitical momentum” as China’s to claim, thanks in no small part to its expansive and ongoing “Belt and Road” initiative....more
The Court of Justice of the European Union decided last week that free trade agreements concluded with the EU must receive prior approval by each Member State if they provide for investor-State arbitration. The ruling, given...more
The road to completion of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union has been a rough ride since negotiations began in 2009, and it did not get any smoother in October 2016,...more
Privy Council clarifies the nature of arbitration clauses, but uncertainties about the clauses’ effect still remain. “Non-exclusive” arbitration clauses provide that disputes “may” be referred to arbitration (rather than...more
International investment arbitration – also known as investment treaty arbitration or investor-State arbitration – is a procedure whereby foreign investors may seek a binding adjudication of claims against host States that...more
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal recently reaffirmed the high threshold for granting provisional measures in investor-state disputes, including in the context of making an order...more