U.S. wants power taken away from panel handling NAFTA disputes

[Murphy]

Negotiations are always fun to watch. The proposals and the procedure are being described as, "Shocking, the mood has gone from bad to worse, full of tension, challenging". IOW, it's business as usual. Each side is jockeying for the best deal. Position is everything.

Les Pierres - You Can't Always Get What You Want

[youtube]7S94ohyErSw[/youtube]
---

Source tells CBC News proposals would remove teeth from investor-state dispute settlement
By Katie Simpson, CBC News Posted: Oct 14, 2017 7:07 PM ET

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is greeted by U.S. President Donald Trump as he arrives at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

American negotiators are looking to change the way disputes are settled under NAFTA, with a series of proposed adjustments to two key chapters of the agreement.

A source with direct knowledge of the talks said that on Saturday, the U.S. introduced its demands for Chapter 11, which regulates the investor-state dispute settlement process, where companies can sue governments when legislation has a negative impact on profits, and chapter 20, the regulations for state-to-state dispute resolutions.

According to the source, the U.S. is looking for changes that would remove the teeth from both chapters.

For example, the American proposal on chapter 11 would make the current arbitration system voluntary, meaning countries would have to opt-in.

When it comes to the state-to-state dispute resolution process, the panels that make decisions would become advisory.

Canadian officials have repeatedly said that for free-trade agreements to work, a strong rules-based system must be in place.

The rest here.

U.S. wants power taken away from panel handling NAFTA disputes - Politics - CBC News

 

[Murphy]

My take on this is that if you do not wish to arbitrate, you just don't show up. That means no arbitration.

Even then, the proposal suggests that there would no longer be a decision making body. The arbitration panel could not make any decisions, only advise.

 

[captain morgan]

The process is already a joke with a country being able to apply taxes or tariffs as a dispute mechanism and then let the multi year adjudication process take effect.

In the meantime, the damage done to a sector is felt and damaging

 

[Murphy]

NAFTA was certainly not worth the bother. These changes will make it less relavent.

 

[lone wolf]

Too bad so many of our industrial facilities have been plowed under and turned into golf courses. Duffers really hate it when there's an assembly line on the fairway

 

[pgs]

Too bad so many of our industrial facilities have been plowed under and turned into golf courses. Duffers really hate it when there's an assembly line on the fairway

But the good golfers just play through .

 

[Bar Sinister]

That's handy. I would make it even easier for the US to cheat on the agreement.

 

[MHz]

Well aren't you just full of Sherlock juice today. Do you think that may have been why they wanted so much control the first time. All it show is that even with a stacked deck the US is nobody you ever want to do business with.

Too bad so many of our industrial facilities have been plowed under and turned into golf courses. Duffers really hate it when there's an assembly line on the fairway

We did it to ourselves and the ones in control laughed all the way to the bank, their bank.

 

[Murphy]

The talks continue. A war that is partially being fought in the media as well, with both sides jockeying for position.

You can see that the US still wants to negotiate, despite what many feel is an 'all or nothing' approach taken by them. I believe that it is a negotiating tactic. Keep things tense and shook up. Control the process and you control the outcome.

I feel the US wants to continue negotiations because of what is written toward the end of the news article.

A reason for optimism

During a news conference at Canada's embassy in Washington following the joint statements, Freeland said the fact all parties have agreed to take more time between talks and to extend negotiations into next year is a positive sign of good will among all partners.

Anyway, here's the rest of the article, and what the Minister of Foreign Affairs is saying about the latest talk.

Freeland calls U.S. NAFTA demands 'troubling' and 'unconventional'
Canada, U.S. trade public barbs as tense round 4 of NAFTA talks concludes
By Kathleen Harris, CBC News Posted: Oct 17, 2017 4:51 PM ET

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland accused the United States of deliberately trying to undermine the North American Free Trade Agreement, calling its list of unconventional proposals "troubling."

Her remarks came during a tense joint news conference as the fourth round of NAFTA talks wrapped up in Arlington, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C. As Freeland delivered the rebuke of the U.S. approach, her counterpart U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer silently looked down.

Freeland said the "unconventional" demands from the U.S. are making the work of negotiating the trilateral trade pact "much more challenging." She stressed that NAFTA has created jobs and opportunities for Canada, Mexico and the U.S. for the last 23 years that have benefited middle-class families.

"Yet in rounds three and four, we have seen proposals that turn back the clock on 23 years of predictability, openness and collaboration under NAFTA," she said. "In some cases, these proposals run counter to World Trade Organization rules. This is troubling."

Freeland said the U.S. demands on national content rules would "severely disrupt" supply chains, weakening North American productivity and jeopardizing thousands of jobs in all three countries.

She also warned that an updated NAFTA can't be achieved with a "winner-takes-all mindset," or one that tries to undermine, rather than modernize, the agreement.

The rest here.

Freeland calls U.S. NAFTA demands 'troubling' and 'unconventional' - Politics - CBC News

 

[MHz]

Looks like it will be used as the excuse to shut down a few industries in all 3 places. The US could do a fake implosion by pulling an |Iceland like move on the banks and the banks can only use threats in getting their money back. Canada and Mexico escape the flak and they go onto a lot of free trade while America get 10 years isolation from the international community and in that time they fix the place up and use that technology as a sales pitch to the outsiders.
Win, win and the US just publishes different international headlines for public consumption. Sorry, guess, they already do that.