Trade Barriers to the Public Good: Free Trade and Environmental Protection

by Alex C. Michalos

Overview

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) were designed to strengthen investor's rights at the expense of community rights and environmental protection. Both deals have achieved their aims.

Trade Barriers to the Public Good provides a detailed examination of NAFTA and AIT cases involving MMT - a chemical additive brought into Canada by the US company Ethyl Corporation Inc. When the Canadian federal government banned the importation of MMT under the Fuel Additives Act, Ethyl Corp. filed a claim under NAFTA Chapter 11 seeking US $201 million in damages. Alex Michalos uses a case study of MMT to reveal exactly how and why quasi-judicial international dispute processes provide significantly less protection for the public interest than the routine procedures for passing an ordinary Act of Parliament.

Trade Barriers to the Public Good illustrates why and how constitutionally protected democratic rights are undermined by trade deals such as the one involving MMT and, failing termination of NAFTA and AIT - the author's first choice for remedial action - recommends precise changes in dispute settlement rules that are needed to protect individuals and the environment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773578593
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	06/01/2008
Series:	McGill-Queen's/Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation Studies in Art History
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Alex C. Michalos is chancellor of the University of Northern British Columbia and winner of the SSHRC Gold Medal for Achievement in Research and the Secretary of State's Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Research in Canadian Studies.