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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)

Canada strengthens investor protections
Mondaq | 20-Mar-2008
Canada has just passed legislation implementing the ICSID Convention, a very important tool for the resolution of investor-state disputes. But the government has not yet indicated a timetable for ratification of the treaty. To date, only four provinces and one territory have passed similar implementing legislation.
Canada , ICSID , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS
Estados Unidos reclama a Panamá otro sistema judicial
Prensa Latina | 16-Oct-2007
El embajador de Estados Unidos dijo que Panamá debe conservar pulcra su "marca país", y para ello requiere de voluntad política para modernizar su aparato judicial. Agregó que cuando un inversionista extranjero es víctima de un proceso judicial poco claro o arbitrario, ello se torna en la peor propaganda internacional
investor-state disputes | ISDS , Panama , US
Pakistan, US enhance cooperation: Teams formed to finalise trade, economic issues
Daily Times | 13-Sep-2007
Pakistan and United States on Wednesday constituted sub-groups of high officials from both the countries to pave the way for early finalisation of issues regarding trade and economic cooperation
intellectual property , investor-state disputes | ISDS , Pakistan , US
Guatemala: Demanda Ferrovías de Guatemala a gobierno de Berger por incumplimiento
Milenio.com | 29-Aug-2007
Se trata de la primera controversia entre Guatemala y una empresa privada que deberá ser procesada y resuelta en el marco del TLC suscrito entre Estados Unidos y el bloque de Centroamérica y República Dominicana
Guatemala , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
Investor-state dispute settlement rewritten to favor US
| 5-Jul-2007
With Seoul and Washington concluding their renegotiation of the Korea-US free trade agreement (FTA), it has been confirmed there were some ‘‘unfair parts’’ added to the economic deal under which investors of both sides are not treated equally in their respective countries.
investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , Korea , US
NAFTA claim dismissed, dicey clause remains
| 15-Jun-2007
A seven-year legal battle by the US postal carrier United Parcel Service of America (UPS) against Canada, brought under a controversial free trade agreement, has been dismissed, but advocacy groups say a provision that allows corporations to sue for lost profits should be permanently dropped.
Canada , corporate interests , investor-state disputes | ISDS , NAFTA | USMCA , US
Canada Post NAFTA win sets precedent
| 14-Jun-2007
A landmark NAFTA decision this week dismissing allegations that Canada Post is competing unfairly has significantly restricted the rights of foreign investors to elbow their way into markets served by Crown corporations and other government enterprises.
Canada , investor-state disputes | ISDS , NAFTA | USMCA , US
Ecuador pursues trade-preference extension but faces critics in Congress
| 12-Jun-2007
Ecuador is furiously lobbying members of Congress to extend trade preferences, set to run out at the end of the month, that are intended to counter narcotics trafficking.
Ecuador , energy , ICSID , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
Foreign investors gone wild
FPIF | 3-May-2007
When Bolivian President Evo Morales took office in January 2006, he pledged to follow through on his campaign pledge to increase Bolivians’ share of revenues from their major source of foreign income, natural gas. International gas companies, however, threatened to sue. Previous Bolivian governments had signed a flurry of bilateral investment treaties that gave foreign investors the right to bypass domestic courts and file such lawsuits through international tribunals. Morales complained that these rules made him feel like a “prisoner” in the presidential palace.
Argentina , Bolivia , Canada , corporate interests , Ecuador , ICSID , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
Weaving webs of influence: The United States, free trade agreements and dispute resolution
Australia National University | 16-Apr-2007
Peter Drahos looks at the issue of dispute settlement in the gowing web of US bilateral free trade agreements, how this relates to the WTO’s dispute settlement system and the implications for developing countries.
bilateralism & multilateralism , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US