The Canada United States Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) made three changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) of 1994. First, CUSMA preserves the state-to-state process of resolving disputes. While the United States wanted to end this initiative, Canada wanted to save and strengthen the system of dispute settlement (Iskra & Nicholson, 2020). Second, CUSMA enforces additional transparency for investigations of disputes. Finally, the agreement deals with creating better labor practices in Mexico and the right to collective bargaining and creating better economic advantages for investment and trade.
Domestic law is created to regulate the country’s internal systems. It is subdivided into public and private law, each dealing with the affairs that pertain to the country’s citizens, residents, businesses, and the state. Public law determines how the nation is governed and its relationship with citizens, while private law is concerned with business processes. International law enforces the country’s sovereignty and its place as a state in the global scene – the country is a national territory with authority over the land it occupies. The second type of international law deals with the relationships between nations – conflict resolution and negotiation (Iskra & Nicholson, 2020). Military conflict can challenge international law, as some countries may encroach on foreign territories or threaten the state’s autonomy. Moreover, international laws in countries may differ, which makes discussing issues regarding citizens or businesses from other countries difficult if the involved states cannot reach an agreement.
The Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) Rule and the National Treatment (NT) Rule are at the root of trading principles of the World Trade Organization. They were created to prevent preferential treatment for countries in trade relations. The multilateral agreement to follow these rules has enforced equality between states’ interactions and has contributed to economic stability (Iskra & Nicholson, 2020). For example, a country cannot set lower tariff rates for one state or only for a set of products without extending these offers to other nations and goods. As a result, preferential treatment is discouraged on a legal basis, giving states an ability to protect their laws and argue for fairer international trade.
Reference
Iskra, E., & Nicholson, M. J. (2020). Legal aspects of international business (4th ed.). Emond.