Trade dispute resolution 'on trial': Softwood lumber

International Journal

Volumn 51, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 710-733

  Doran, Charles F ^b   Mellon, Andrew W ^a  

^a JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0042858408     PISSN: 00207020     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/002070209605100407     Document Type: Article

References (24)

1. Jorge Miranda, 'Application of trade remedy laws within NAFTA: economic effects,' in Beatriz Leycegui, William B.P. Robson, and S. Dahlia Stein, eds, Trading Punches: Trade Remedy Law and Disputes Under NAFTA (Washington DC: North American Committee 1995), 143.
2. Daniel Schwanen, 'When push comes to shove: quantifying the continuing use of trade "remedy" laws between Canada and the United States,' ibid, 175.
3. Thomas J. Prusa, 'An overview of the impact of United States unfair trade laws,' ibid, 193.
4. Quoting Andreas Lowenfeld, Gilbert R. Winham, one of Canada's leading academic authorities on the NAFTA trade dispute resolution mechanism, observed that on the whole there was no bias toward 'protectionism or unrestrained trade,' or a 'Canadian' or 'American' approach to panel decisions. Gilbert R. Winham, 'Dispute Settlement in NAFTA and the FTA,' in Steven Globerman and Michael Walker, eds, Assessing NAFTA: A Trinalional Analysis (Vancouver: Fraser Institute 1993), 253. See also, Andreas Lowenfeld, 'Binational dispute settlement under chapters 18 and 19 of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement: an interim appraisal,' Administrative Conference of the United States, December 1990, 78.
5. Quoting Andreas Lowenfeld, Gilbert R. Winham, one of Canada's leading academic authorities on the NAFTA trade dispute resolution mechanism, observed that on the whole there was no bias toward 'protectionism or unrestrained trade,' or a 'Canadian' or 'American' approach to panel decisions. Gilbert R. Winham, 'Dispute Settlement in NAFTA and the FTA,' in Steven Globerman and Michael Walker, eds, Assessing NAFTA: A Trinalional Analysis (Vancouver: Fraser Institute 1993), 253. See also, Andreas Lowenfeld, 'Binational dispute settlement under chapters 18 and 19 of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement: an interim appraisal,' Administrative Conference of the United States, December 1990, 78.
6. A review of the free trade negotiations shows that concern about possible 'malfeasance or corruption' of panel members was not far from the minds of the treaty architects. Michael Hart with Bill Dymond and Colin Robertson, Decision at Midnight: Inside the Canada-U.S. Free-Trade Negotiations (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press 1994), 359.
7. In their much-acclaimed book assessing the history of the free trade negotiations, Doern and Tomlin state: 'If changes occur in the behaviour of both firms and agencies, then Canadian interests can be expected to prevail more often than would have been the case without the FTA provisions.' This seems to be a widely shared Canadian assumption about the value of the free trade negotiations with the United States. G. Bruce Doern and Brian W. Tomlin, Faith and Fear: The Free Trade Story (Toronto: Stoddart 1991), 252.
8. Initial confidence in the potential for objectivity and neutrality has been high. Arlene E. Wilson, 'A U.S. perspective on the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement,' in Roy E. Green, ed, The Enterprise for the America's Initiative (Westport CT: Praeger 1993), 60; United States Congress, House Committee on Small Business, What in Next for the United States-Canada Free Trade, Agreement? Hearings, Testimony of Charles F. Doran, 102nd cong, 1st sess, 4 September and 1 October 1991, 54. Others raised questions from the start. Robert E. Hudec, 'Comments,' in Jeffrey J. Schott and Murray G. Smith, eds, The Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement: The Global Impact (Washington DC & Montreal: Institute for International Economics & Institute for Research on Public Policy 1988), 88.
9. Initial confidence in the potential for objectivity and neutrality has been high. Arlene E. Wilson, 'A U.S. perspective on the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement,' in Roy E. Green, ed, The Enterprise for the America's Initiative (Westport CT: Praeger 1993), 60; United States Congress, House Committee on Small Business, What in Next for the United States-Canada Free Trade, Agreement? Hearings, Testimony of Charles F. Doran, 102nd cong, 1st sess, 4 September and 1 October 1991, 54. Others raised questions from the start. Robert E. Hudec, 'Comments,' in Jeffrey J. Schott and Murray G. Smith, eds, The Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement: The Global Impact (Washington DC & Montreal: Institute for International Economics & Institute for Research on Public Policy 1988), 88.
10. Initial confidence in the potential for objectivity and neutrality has been high. Arlene E. Wilson, 'A U.S. perspective on the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement,' in Roy E. Green, ed, The Enterprise for the America's Initiative (Westport CT: Praeger 1993), 60; United States Congress, House Committee on Small Business, What in Next for the United States-Canada Free Trade, Agreement? Hearings, Testimony of Charles F. Doran, 102nd cong, 1st sess, 4 September and 1 October 1991, 54. Others raised questions from the start. Robert E. Hudec, 'Comments,' in Jeffrey J. Schott and Murray G. Smith, eds, The Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement: The Global Impact (Washington DC & Montreal: Institute for International Economics & Institute for Research on Public Policy 1988), 88.
11. Consider Thomas R. Waggener, Rearrests, Timber, and Trade: Emerging Canadian and U.S. Relations Under the Free Trade Agreement, Canadian-American Public Policy no 4, University of Maine Press, Orono, December 1990.
12. Bernard Simon, 'Lumber producers at loggerheads over NAFTA,' Financial Times (London), 20 September 1994, 6.
13. Gordon Hamilton, 'U.S. softwood move appalling, Clark charges,' Vancouver Sun, 30 September 1994, E3.
14. Charles F. Doran and Timothy J. Naftali, 'U.S.-Canadian softwood lumber: trade dispute negotiations,' Foreign Policy Institute Case Studies, no 8, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC, 1987.
15. 'Savor the victory but the trade war isn't over,' Vancouver Sun, 5 August 1994, A14.
16. James R. Holbein, 'Review of dispute resolution panels,' NAFTA Secretariat, United States Section, 6 October 1994.
17. In a chapter 18 case concerning the importation of 'short' lobsters from Canada, the panel supported the United States regulation with three American panellists in favour and two Canadian panellists against. Unfortunately for the argument advanced here, accusations of national bias were again raised.
18. See Lawrence Martin, The Presidents and the Prime Ministers (Toronto: Doubleday 1982), 62-5. Consider also the statement by John Thompson and Stephen Randall that 'any fair assessment ... indicates that Lord Alverston would have been remiss to find otherwise,' Canada and the United States: Ambivalent Allies (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press 1994), 68.
19. See Lawrence Martin, The Presidents and the Prime Ministers (Toronto: Doubleday 1982), 62-5. Consider also the statement by John Thompson and Stephen Randall that 'any fair assessment ... indicates that Lord Alverston would have been remiss to find otherwise,' Canada and the United States: Ambivalent Allies (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press 1994), 68.
20. William W. Bishop, Jr, International Law: Case Materials (2nd ed; Boston: Little Brown 1962), 344.
21. William Willoughby, 'Expectations and experience 1909-1979,' in Robert Spencer, John Kirton, and Kim Richard Nossal, eds, The International Joint Commission: Seventy Years On (Toronto: Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 1981), 31-4.
22. Perhaps this is why some analysts have discouraged 'guaranteed access' agreements, except between firms. See Robert T. Kudrle, 'The North American Free Trade Agreement as an element of U.S. trade policy,' in Mario F. Bognanno and Kathryn J. Ready, eds, The North American Free Trade Agreement: Labor, Industry, and Government Perspectives (Westport CT: Quorum 1993), 145.
23. A parallel behaviour at the systemic level is to create 'new' world orders. Stephen J. Randall, 'United States foreign policy and the new world order: a historical reflection,' International Journal 48 (winter 1992-3), 5.
24. For a discussion of how changes in dispute resolution under NAFTA may affect the softwood lumber industry in the future, see Don G. Roberts and Han Vertinsky, 'Impact of NAFTA on the forest products industry,' in Alan M. Rugman, ed, Foreign Investment and NAFTA (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press 1994), 204-5.