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NAFTA | USMCA

North America Free Trade Agreement | US-Mexico-Canada Agreement

Mexico should follow other countries and refuse excessive powers for foreign investors
23-Apr-2021 Inequality.org
Pakistan is the latest to start withdrawing from international treaties that give corporations the power to sue governments over environmental and public interest regulations.
Can trade work for workers?
20-Apr-2021 Foreign Affairs
Helping left-behind regions should be a core goal of Biden’s administration. The damage has been done, and free trade isn’t going anywhere.
NAFTA-investor lawsuits cost Canada at least $376 million: report
16-Apr-2021 iPolitics
NAFTA-investor lawsuits have cost Canadian taxpayers more than $376 million over the last 25 years, and could cost even more in the years ahead.
The rise and demise of NAFTA Chapter 11
15-Apr-2021 CCPA
The removal of investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS) from the renegotiated NAFTA was a critical victory but Canada, the US and Mexico continue to be enmeshed in an extensive web of bilateral and regional accords containing ISDS.
Rehabilitating protection and resituating trade agreements
12-Apr-2021 The Hill
Recent calls for the US to launch a trade dispute over Mexico’s proposed decree to ban glyphosate and the planting and importation of GM corn mischaracterize the science on glyphosate, the decree and the role of US trade policy.
First labor rights claim under the revised NAFTA filed by migrant worker women in the US — what does it mean in terms of the new labor rulebook in the region?
7-Apr-2021 Public Citizen
The complaint represents many organizations’ intentions to test if the revised NAFTA’s labor terms could be an effective tool to improve workers’ conditions.
Women file complaint over gender discrimination in US temporary work programs
26-Mar-2021 Fronteras
A group of Mexican migrant worker women have used the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to launch a complaint over discrimination in temporary labor programs.
Stopping the race to the bottom in trade policy
23-Mar-2021 The American Prospect
Agribusiness giant Bayer/Monsanto claims that Mexico’s proposed restrictions on the active ingredient in its Roundup herbicide violate the country’s trade agreement with the US.
Will new NAFTA block Biden’s progressive regulatory policies?
22-Mar-2021 The Hill
Biden is on the right track in calling for reform. But if the same deregulatory agenda remains in our internationally enforceable trade agreements, Biden’s reforms will come up short, ultimately subverting his agenda and vision.
Trade agreements like NAFTA are a menace to democracy
5-Mar-2021 Jacobin
Free-trade agreements enable companies to sue governments if they interfere with profit-making activities, no matter how destructive. These trade deals put us in an antidemocratic straitjacket — it’s time we got rid of them.
Canadian miner First Majestic wants to resolve its tax dispute with the SAT with international arbitration
3-Mar-2021 MRT
Canadian mining company First Majestic Silver Corp submitted a request for arbitration based on NAFTA, due to the tax debt and its differences with the Mexican government.
US trade nominee says Mexico-Canada pact is priority
25-Feb-2021 UrduPoint
US trade representative nominee Katherine Tai has said implementing the new free trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico will be a priority.
Mexican social media plan violates North America trade deal, industry says
10-Feb-2021 Reuters
A Latin American social media industry group that includes Facebook and Twitter said a reform in Mexico would violate an international trade pact, in swift backlash to a draft bill that seeks to regulate social media platforms.
Q&A: Int’l arbitration expert on Alberta’s threat of ’slam-dunk’ case v. USA over Keystone veto
8-Feb-2021 West Law
Alberta’s Premier said that the Canadian province, which has an equity in the now-canceled Keystone XL pipeline, may seek compensation under investor-protection provisions still in effect under NAFTA
US Chamber slams Mexico power bill as breach of USMCA trade pact
8-Feb-2021 Reuters
The bill gives preference in electricity distribution to the state-run Comision Federal de Electricidad and seeks to eliminate its obligation to buy electricity through auctions.
Biden to focus on trade enforcement after years of Trump tariffs
1-Feb-2021 Bloomberg
President Joe Biden’s administration is setting up its trade policy to prioritize enforcement of existing commitments by the US’s partners over negotiating more deals to open new export markets.
Table of foreign investor-state cases and claims under NAFTA and other US “trade deals”
28-Jan-2021 Public Citizen
ISDS tribunals have ordered governments to pay corporations more than $989 million in compensation after ISDS attacks launched just under U.S. agreements.
Keystone XL legal risks highlight dangers of putting investors before climate change
26-Jan-2021 The Conversation
The owner of Keystone XL — TC Energy (previously TransCanada) — used NAFTA to launch a US$15 billion lawsuit in 2016 after President Barack Obama cancelled the project.
Canada scrambles to salvage Keystone XL as Biden prepares to kill troubled pipeline project
19-Jan-2021 Reuters
Alberta believes there was a “very solid” legal basis to seek damages under international free trade agreements if the pipeline is effectively killed, said Alberta Premier
Free trade is killing American manufacturing
27-Nov-2020 Industry Week
The real winners of free trade are the wealthy in all of the trading countries—not the citizens, workers, or manufacturing.