Simon Lester

Back in 2001, a NAFTA Chapter 20 panel ruled that certain U.S. restrictions on Mexican trucking services violated U.S. commitments under the NAFTA. Implementation of this ruling by the U.S. has seen some stops and starts. The new NAFTA clarifies and limits the U.S. obligation: Notwithstanding

The original NAFTA withdrawal provision, Article 2205, said this: A Party may withdraw from this Agreement six months after it provides written notice of withdrawal to the other Parties. If a Party withdraws, the Agreement shall remain in force for the remaining Parties. The new NAFTA withdrawal provision, Article 34.

This is a guest post from law prof Kathleen Claussen: The USTR fact sheet released in late August previewed that the USMCA labor provisions would be the “strongest of any trade agreement.”  To evaluate this statement, rather than look at the agreements in force or the status quo on the

As part of a quest to find the most obscure aspect of the new NAFTA, I point you to the scope of non-violation claims. This is from the new NAFTA: Article 31.2: Scope 1. Unless otherwise provided in this Agreement, the dispute settlement provisions of this Chapter shall apply:

Article 32.10 of the new NAFTA says: Article 32.10: Non-Market Country FTA 1. At least 3 months prior to commencing negotiations, a Party shall inform the other Parties of its intention to commence free trade agreement negotiations with a non-market country. For purposes of this Article, a non-market

Inu and I had a recent article in which we explained how NAFTA Chapter 20 state-state dispute settlement hasn't been working because of problems with appointing panelists (in large part because the roster of panelists was not filled). It doesn't look like this article made much

As has been expected, in the new NAFTA deal, the Trump administration has significantly scaled back the investment protection/ISDS provisions, which are now found in Chapter 14. One way to think about what happened is that there is no more general recourse to ISDS, but there are three ways

From the White House: Joint Statement of the United States and Japan 1.  On the occasion of our Summit Meeting in New York on September 26, 2018, we, President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, affirmed the importance of a strong, stable, and mutually beneficial trade and economic

This is from the dispute settlement chapter of the Modernisation of the Trade part of the EU-Mexico Global Agreement: Article X.5 Composition of a Panel 1. A panel shall be composed of three panellists.     2. Within [X] days from the date of receipt of the written request for the