After protracted negotiations which have been covered extensively in the press, the US signed the new United States, Mexico and Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) with Mexico and Canada on 30 November 2018. The USMCA replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement 1994 (“NAFTA”) which had governed trade relations between the parties. The investment provisions were contained in Chapter 11 of NAFTA and applied to all investments and investors of any party.  Subject to specific carve outs, all such investments were subject to the dispute settlement provisions in Chapter 11 which provided for investor-state arbitration.  The proposed investment regime in Chapter 14 of USMCA is a significant departure from its equivalent Chapter 11 of NAFTA. 

Last month, Dispute Resolution Partner and Global Co-Head of International Arbitration, Matthew Weiniger was interviewed, together with Professor Campbell McLachlan of the Victoria University of Wellington, by The Arbitration Station.  They were discussing the second edition of their book International Investment Arbitration – Substantive Principles, co-authored with Laurence Shore. In the interview, Matthew and Campbell describe their objectives behind the text and how developments have shaped investment arbitration in the 10 years since the first edition was published.

At the 15th annual International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Miami Conference earlier this month, one of the programme’s top-line issues for discussion was the matter of a “compliance” approach to arbitration. Here, Christian Albanesi (Head of Latin American Arbitration), Adam Lurie (US Head of Litigation and Government Investigations), and Caitlin Potratz (Senior US Associate), outline their stance on the topic.