From Reuters:
A U.S. company plans to ask the Obama administration for help in recovering more than $230 million it says it is owned by the government of Argentina, an attorney for the company said on Monday.
Stephen Kho, a lawyer with the Akin Gump law firm, said it would be the first time a U.S. company has used the "Section 301" trade law to pressure a foreign government to pay an award decided by an arbitrator in an investment dispute.
"I know there's other bigger fish to fry, but this is something I think is the beginning of a slippery slope," Kho said, referring to the possibility of other countries refusing to pay awards in investment spats unless the United States takes a hard line on Argentina.
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Azurix's decision to file a Section 301 petition follows an earlier attempt to pressure Argentina by asking the office of the U.S. Trade Representative to withdraw the country's benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which lets developing countries export many goods to the United States without paying duties.
That effort looked promising but stalled when the entire GSP program lapsed in February as a result of political wrangling in Congress, Kho said.
The Section 301 petition would go further by asking the U.S. government to withhold support for Argentina's request to restructure about $7 billion in international debt in the Paris Club of creditor nations, Kho said.
It would also urge the Obama administration to block disbursements of credit and loan facilities to Argentina at the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.