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North America

Canada and the United States have signed about 180 investment agreements.

They are both party to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico. Sixty-seven disputes were launched under NAFTA.

NAFTA was recently renegotiated and replaced by the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that was signed in November 2018 and is yet to enter in force. The investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism between the US and Canada, and between Mexico and Canada has been removed – even though it is included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, to which both Mexico and Canada belong. Only limited claims are allowed between the US and Mexico, after exhaustion of local remedies. But the ISDS mechanism has been maintained between the two countries for claims pertaining to Mexico’s oil and gas sector.

The US is also party to the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), with six Central American states. US investors have initiated all 11 known CAFTA disputes.

Canada has an investment treaty with China and is party to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union. CETA includes a revised ISDS mechanism, the investment court system, which has been critiqued for not addressing the core of the problem behind the mechanism.

US investors have extensively used the ISDS mechanism. They have initiated around 180 disputes, over 17% of all known cases, making the US the most frequent home state of investors. The US has never lost an ISDS case.

Canadian investors have initiated about 50 disputes and Canada has been the fourth most frequent target among ‘developed’ states (9th globally), with 29 cases.

Photo: Public Citizen

(April 2020)

First a gold rush, then the lawyers
| 28-Jun-2011
Pacific Rim is suing the Salvadoran government in an international investment court, one of scores of cases in recent years in which frustrated oil, gas and mining investors, using provisions of trade agreements, have sought to recoup losses from mostly developing countries.
CAFTA , Canada , El Salvador , environment , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , mining , US
Tobacco giant suing Australian govt ’a warning’ for NZ
| 28-Jun-2011
Tobacco giant Philip Morris suing the Australian government for introducing plain packaging laws for tobacco should send shockwaves through this country as it seeks a free trade deal involving the US, says an academic critic of the deal.
actions | resistance , corporate interests , CPTPP , health , investor-state disputes | ISDS , New Zealand , US
Canadian mining firm threatens legal action against Peru
| 27-Jun-2011
Canada’s Bear Creek Mining Corp. is threatening a legal challenge against Peru after its mining rights were revoked in a move that raises the risk for other resource companies doing business in the mineral-blessed South American country.
actions | resistance , Canada , environment , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , mining , Peru
Ecuador prepares for new hearing in Occidental Petroleum case
| 15-Jun-2011
The office of Ecuador’s Attorney General will represent Ecuador in Washington at a June 30 hearing in the arbitration case filed against the Andean country by US oil company Occidental Petroleum Corp.
corporate interests , Ecuador , energy , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
Philip Morris takes Uruguay to international court because of tobacco-ban policy
| 9-Jun-2011
One of the world’s biggest tobacco companies is launching a claim against Uruguay for considering the country’s legislation commercially damaging to the company. Philip Morris corporation has filed a claim at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a World Bank branch.
corporate interests , ICSID , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , Uruguay , US
$130 million NAFTA payout sets troubling precedent
CCPA | 23-Mar-2011
Why should a provincial government be punished for doing the right thing?
Canada , investor-state disputes | ISDS , labour | workers’ rights , NAFTA | USMCA
Cola wars beat drug wars
Public Citizen | 2-Mar-2011
The award in agribusiness giant Cargill’s NAFTA investor-state attack on Mexico’s jobs program was published last week.
agriculture | farmers | food , health , investor-state disputes | ISDS , Mexico , NAFTA | USMCA , US
Big tobacco takes fight over plain cigarette packs to free trade agreement
| 16-Jan-2011
Big tobacco is hoping a new multilateral free trade agreement will enable it to sue the Federal Government if Australia introduces plain packaging for cigarettes in mid-2012 as planned.
Australia , corporate interests , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
Perú: La nueva jugada de Doe Run
IPS | 14-Jan-2011
La empresa Doe Run volvió a desafiar al Estado peruano. A través de su representante, el Grupo Renco, notificó al gobierno de su intención de iniciar arbitraje internacional amparándose en TLC entre este país y EEUU.
investor-state disputes | ISDS , Peru , US
Perú: Minera Doe Run enjuicia a Perú en tribunales internacionales
NO a la Mina | 12-Jan-2011
La empresa estadounidense Renco Group, Inc. y su filial Doe Run Perú SRL. han iniciado un proceso de arbitraje internacional contra el Estado peruano, basándose en el TLC impuesto por EE.UU. al gobierno de Perú.
investor-state disputes | ISDS , Peru , US