The regulation of direct foreign investment under the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement

• Main Author: Amos, Jude Thaddeus
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/5161

The regulation of foreign direct investment continues to feature prominently in the economic policies of most countries, both developed and developing ones. The emphasis on the role of foreign direct investment in the economic development of developing countries raises the question as to ways in which foreign investment in such countries may be encouraged. To this end, one may ask whether they can learn anything from the treatment of foreign investment by developed countries. Such an enquiry becomes pertinent in the light of differences in the traditional attitudes of developing and developed states towards foreign investment control, especially on issues of trade related investment measures (TRIMs) and expropriation. This is the focus of this paper. It is argued that judging from the trend regarding the treatment of these issues under the Free Trade Agreement and its successor - the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the provisions of bilateral investment treaties, and the limited extent of Canadian and American programs designed to encourage foreign direct investment in developing countries, a modification in the traditional attitudes of developing countries on such issues appears not only to be necessary, but expedient. === Law, Peter A. Allard School of === Graduate