NAFTA's Chapter Eleven and Non-Discriminatory Treatment

Abstract

One of the first and foremost agreements which has been driven by policy considerations is the NAFTA agreement. This agreement was especially created so that three important countries in the world (US, Mexico and Canada) would benefit economically. On clearly assessing this agreement, a layman could probably conclude that the NAFTA Union is similar to the EU. The main difference is with regard to the currency operation. That being said, NAFTA does not have a uniform currency for its trade operation while the EU uses a common currency. To delve further into the agreement, it should be noted that the NAFTA agreement mainly focuses on being a trade liberalization agreement by increasing substantial investment opportunities in the territories of the NAFTA Parties.' In order to achieve this goal, adequate protection of the parties involved in trade/investments had to be granted. Therefore, it was necessary to introduce the correct and appropriate instruments that would satisfy the needs of this objective. One of the major aspects of the NAFTA agreement is its willingness to protect investors against potential discriminatory treatments on behalf of its host states. This protection is granted with the aim of ensuring that all the players receive equality in terms of competition and opportunity. The introduction of this kind of protection is essential to permit the proper functioning of the whole mechanism set up by the NAFTA. However, it should be noted that the introduction of this type of protection is very complex. Indeed, the notion of discrimination is immense and that makes it an arduous task to define. More so, the notion of discrimination is a concept having a variable and indefinite geometry. Apart from NAFTA helping three prime countries benefit economically through trade, another aspect gaining momentum is immigration between the three countries which is blooming.