HillNote
On 1 July 2022, the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) had been in force for two years. CUSMA superseded the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in force since 1994. CUSMA contains three dispute-settlement mechanisms, which are contained in the following chapters: Chapter 10 – binational review of anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties; Chapter 14 – investor–state dispute settlement; and Chapter 31 – state-to-state dispute settlement. This Hillnote focuses on Chapter 31, the chapter under which most disputes about the interpretation or application of CUSMA’s obligations are likely to fall. It begins with a brief overview of the options available to a complaining party and a responding party to resolve their differences: consultations, mediation and/or a dispute-settlement panel. It then outlines disputes that have occurred under Chapter 31 before discussing certain differences between this chapter’s mechanism and Chapter 20 of NAFTA, which contained that agreement’s state-to-state dispute-settlement mechanism.