Saving NAFTA Chapter 19

Was it worth it?
Author(s): 
October 23, 2018
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This report evaluates outcomes in the 54 complaints by Canadian exporters against U.S. trade authorities under NAFTA’s Chapter 19 dispute settlement mechanism. It finds that despite playing a prominent role in the end game of NAFTA renegotiations, Canada’s success using the Chapter 19 dispute settlement mechanism has been modest at best. 

The report’s key findings include:  

  • Since 1994, Canadian exporters have succeeded in getting trade relief in 12 complaints under NAFTA Chapter 19. 
  • Only seven of these wins were directly attributable to the Chapter 19 process, and the last of these occurred nearly 15 years ago. 
  • In the five other successful cases, Canadian exporters won interim relief, but the trade disputes were ultimately resolved independently of the Chapter 19 panel process. 
  • More than half (30) of all complaints were terminated before any panel decision was reached. 
  • Delays in the process have increased the panel timelines to well beyond those in the original agreement. 

Chapter 19’s mixed track record suggests that the price paid to protect it – for example, by extending monopoly protections for brand-name medicines, eroding supply management, and failing to escape from unjustified U.S. national security safeguard tariffs on steel and aluminum - was too high.

Offices: 
ISBN: 
978-1-77125-426-7