NAFTA in Motion: A Workshop Series on North American Trade Disputes, Institutional Debates, and Domestic Policy Responses

When: 10.01.2004

In the Fall of 2004, CIS hosted a conference series on NAFTA organized by Carol Wise, Associate Professor of International Relations. Generous funding from the Canadian government as well as CIBEAR also made these workshops a success. Participants came from across the United States as well as Canada and Mexico.

The first conference titled “The Complexities of Dispute Resolution at the NAFTA” was held on October 1, 2004 for an audience comprised of academics, policymakers, doctoral students, and undergraduates. Among the participants were prominent scholars in international law, international organizations, development economics, and international relations, as well as practitioners of international trade law. The broad goals of this first workshop were to deepen the US-Canadian relationship, to more firmly establish the field of North American Studies at USC, and to seriously examine the challenges surrounding dispute settlement at the NAFTA from the perspective of each member country.


NAFTA’s Complexities vis-à-vis the WTO

Antonio Ortiz Mena, CIDE

Marc Busch, Queens University, Third Parties and Forum Shopping for Dispute Settlement

Moderator: John Odell, USC
Discussant: Remonda Kleinberg, University of North Carolina and Richard Steinberg, UCLA


The Track Record on Investment Disputes

Cesar Hernandez, CIDAC, NAFTA’s Chapter XI First Decade: Reflections from Mexico

Robert Wai, York University, NAFTA’s Chapter XI First Decade: Reflections from Mexico

Moderator: Carol Wise, USC
Discussant: Manuel Gonzales Oropeza, UNAM


Evaluating NAFTA’s Decade of Trade Dispute Settlement

Jay Smith, George Washington University, Intrinsic Obstacles To Evaluation Of Dispute Settlement Systems In Political Science And Law

Manuel Gonzales Oropeza, UNAM, Mexico’s Perspective

Matthew Kronby, International Trade Law Bureau, Dispute Trends Under the NAFTA – A Canadian Perspective

Moderator: Peter Rosendorff, USC
Discussant: Carol Wise, USC