CIAO DATE: 08/03

NAFTA Dispute Settlement Systems

Abstract

The authors review how trade disputes, such as those over Mexican truck standards and Canadian lumber exports, have been handled under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). They review four of the six NAFTA dispute settlement systems: Chapter 11 for investor-state disputes over property rights, Chapter 14 for handling financial sector disputes, Chapter 19 for determining whether final antidumping and countervailing duty decisions made in domestic tribunals are consistent with national laws, and Chapter 20 on government-to-government resolution of high-level disputes. Hufbauer and Schott contrast this fragmented NAFTA system with the more streamlined dispute settlement process of the World Trade Organization.

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