ISDS in FTAs

ISDS in FTAs: An Essential Ingredient or Fly In the Soup?

Since NAFTA, the United States has included investment chapters in its free trade agreements (FTAs) that protect investors against uncompensated expropriation, nationality-based discrimination, trade-distorting local content requirements, and arbitrary or inequitable treatment. As the US seeks to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and advance the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), these investment rules, as well as the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, are being heavily debated. Is ISDS an essential ingredient in a successful trade agreement? Or is it an unnecessary burden in trade negotiations?

FEATURING
Linda DEMPSEY
Vice President of International Economic Affairs at NAM
Dan IKENSON
Director of the Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute
Thea LEE
Deputy Chief of Staff at the AFL-CIO
Theadore POSNER
Partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges

MODERATOR
Michael SMART
Vice President of Rock Creek Global Advisors