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The U.S.-Mexico-Canada (AKA the New NAFTA) Trade Deal: Limits on FTAs with NMEs

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,
Simon Lester 02 Oct 2018 2 min read

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada (AKA the New NAFTA) Trade Deal: State-State Dispute Settlement

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
Simon Lester 01 Oct 2018 1 min read

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada (AKA the New NAFTA) Trade Deal: Investment Protection/ISDS

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
Simon Lester 01 Oct 2018 2 min read

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada (AKA the New NAFTA) Trade Deal: The Sunset Clause

The text of what is being called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has been released. It would be much easier to call this agreement NAFTA, rather than some unwieldy new name that someone thought was preferable for public relations purposes. We'll see what practice develops here.
Simon Lester 01 Oct 2018 3 min read

Is This The New US Approach to FTAs?

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
Simon Lester 26 Sep 2018 2 min read

Appointment of Panelists under the Modernised EU-Mexico Trade Agreement

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
Simon Lester 26 Sep 2018 3 min read

What Is the Value of the Section 232 Auto Tariff Carveout?

In a side letter to the U.S.-Mexico agreement that is part of the NAFTA renegotiation, it appears that the U.S. has agreed that if it imposes tariffs on auto imports pursuant to Section 232, a certain amount of Mexican auto imports will be exempt. (You could also
Simon Lester 21 Sep 2018 2 min read

Guest Post: Public Order Clause, Systemic Assault on the Rule of Law and Investment Arbitration: Revenge of the Sith

This is a guest post from Marcin Menkes, Assistant Professor in the Department of Business Law at Warsaw School of Economics: “So this is how liberty dies ... with thunderous applause.” ―Padmé Amidala A long time ago, in a hemisphere far, far away … War! The multilateral order and the democratic Rule
Simon Lester 16 Sep 2018 13 min read

Could There Be a U.S.-Mexico Trade Agreement AND a NAFTA?

Mexican trade negotiator Kenneth Smith Ramos tweeted this: #Mexico stated from the beginning of the negotiation that the ideal scenario is for #NAFTA to remain trilateral. We hope the US and Canada will conclude their bilateral #negotiation shortly. If that is not possible we are ready to advance bilaterally with
Simon Lester 13 Sep 2018 1 min read

Will the NAFTA ISDS Changes Deliver any Votes?

This is from Inside US Trade: Public Citizen Global Trade Watch Director Lori Wallach told reporters during that call that while she thinks “public citizens” would prefer no ISDS language in the North American Free Trade Agreement at all, the U.S.-Mexico deal “can be widely supported, especially after
Simon Lester 13 Sep 2018 1 min read

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Featured

Does The EU Need Its Own Section 301 To Counter China's Distortions?

Recently, economists Sander Tordoir and Brad Setser suggested that the EU may need its own version of Section 301 in order to "confront China’s systemic distortions beyond piecemeal trade defence."
17 Jun 2026 7 min read

The Section 301 Forced Labor Import Ban Report

On June 2, 2026, USTR released its report on its Section 301 investigation into acts, policies, and practices of various economies related to the failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.
04 Jun 2026 11 min read

What To Expect from the USMCA Review?

The USMCA review is almost upon us. How exactly things will proceed is a bit unclear, as we've never done this sort of thing before, but July 1 is the six year anniversary of the USMCA's entry into force.
03 Jun 2026 15 min read

China in the World Trading System: A Response to Chad, and Some Comments on Froman-Greer

I'm going to use this post to (1) respond to Chad and (2) comment on an exchange between current U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer and former U.S. Trade Rep. Mike Froman at a recent CFR event.
01 Jun 2026 7 min read

My Response To Simon on China in the World Trading System

Here are two quick reactions to the super important question of what explains why countries did not use WTO dispute settlement to push China to change.
28 May 2026 2 min read

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