Lessons About NAFTA Renegotiations from Shakespeare’s Othello: From the Three Amigos to America as Iago?

The “Three Amigos” is a common characterization of relations among the North American countries, particularly since 1 January 1994 when the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”) entered into force, superseding a deal between two buddies, Canada and the United States, the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (“CUSFTA”), that had been in effect since 1 January 1989. For nearly all of the almost quarter century of NAFTA history, America, Canada, and Mexico enjoyed a stable and growing trade relationship, based on a healthy friendship. Then Donald J. Trump was inaugurated on 20 January 2017, having won the Presidency in part with anti-NAFTA, and particularly anti-Mexico, vitriol. No longer did the common characterization of “Three Amigos” seem apt. As the Trump Administration NAFTA renegotiation goals emerged, that portrayal seemed quite misleading. Instead, Shakespeare’s great tragedy, Othello, provides characters to whom the three NAFTA Parties may be analogized, albeit loosely. The argument of this Article is that on the stage of NAFTA renegotiations, the Trump Administration has changed the script, casting America as Iago, and consequently putting Mexico in the role of Cassio, and Canada as Desdemona. The transformation from Three Amigos to tragic figures is neither complete nor irreversible. But, it is grounded in hard-core, technical trade details, with America at the center of the plot of NAFTA renegotiations, as is Iago in Othello. There would have been no such renegotiations but for the scheming of candidate and now President Trump. He stirred the pot, as it were, in what was an otherwise undramatic, well-functioning, though not problem-free, relationship with Mexico and Canada. Enmity, concealment, improvisation, omission, and corruption are the five hallmarks of Iago that render him infamous among Shakespeare’s characters. Iago hates Othello. Iago conceals the truth from all those around him. Iago is a master at improvisation to further his wicked plans. Iago omits material facts, thereby leading others astray. Finally, Iago corrupts the relationships of those who share the closest bonds. Each hallmark is apparent in the Trump Administration’s NAFTA renegotiating strategy. Trade negotiations always have had a theatrical character to them, characterized by: late-night talks on acrimonious issues among commercial allies and adversaries that thrust deadlines and ultimatums on each other; trade-offs among sectoral interests that sometimes at best are cynical and at worst irrational; and raw power asserted by the economically strong over the relatively impoverished. But, the drama this Administration has brought to NAFTA renegotiations is unprecedented for America’s global theater company (otherwise known as the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”)) and risks an unparalleled tragedy. First, enmity towards Mexico’s bilateral trade surplus with America motivates the Trump Administration’s NAFTA renegotiation strategy. Second, that motivation conceals a corporatist agenda favoring certain powerful American business sectors, such as winter vegetable producers and e-commerce companies—an agenda the Trump Administration is advancing through secret talks with Mexico and Canada. Third, the very engagement in NAFTA renegotiations is an act of improvisation, tossing out most of the clear, final script from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (“TPP”), and concocting a new agenda for discussions. Fourth, the Trump Administration’s NAFTA renegotiation strategy omits serious help for labor interests, an irony when juxtaposed with pledges Mr. Trump made both before and after entering the Oval Office. Fifth, the effect of renegotiations, at least thus far, has been to corrupt the relationships between America and Mexico, and America and Canada. Again, by way of loose analogy, ever since Mexico committed itself to trade liberalization and economic reform in the mid-1980s, evidenced by its signing NAFTA on 17 December 1992,5 it has been a loyal partner of the United States. Loyalty, of course, is a defining virtue of Cassio, the lieutenant to Othello. Canada has supported warm trade relations with America since the 1989 CUSFTA, and indeed since the 1965 pact creating a free trade area in autos and auto parts. Despite disputes with America over softwood lumber and dairy products, Canada’s support for free trade was staunch, redolent of that of Desdemona for Othello himself. The Trump Administration has poisoned the relationship between America and Mexico, and America and Canada, as did Iago with respect to Cassio and Othello, and with respect to Desdemona and Othello

Marxist Origins of the Anti-Third World Claim

This Essay is an experiment — a try-out — of an argument. The argument concerns what I regard to be the most serious of the claims made by the critics, namely, the claims concerning the relationship between the WTO and international trade law, on the one hand, and the Third World, on the other hand. The claim is this: the WTO is anti-development, and international trade law helps tilt the playing field on which the great game of trade is played against developing countries. It is the most serious of the claims, I think, because the giant and still growing divide between the First World and the Third World is the most important challenge facing the multilateral trading system in these first few decades of the new millennium. Trade officials representing the governments of nearly four or five billion people, and the critics that sympathize with them who work in various United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions, seem to harbor doubts about the extent to which the system can accommodate the development needs, or even promote sustainable, balanced growth

Marxist Origins of the Anti-Third World Claim

This Essay is an experiment — a try-out — of an argument. The argument concerns what I regard to be the most serious of the claims made by the critics, namely, the claims concerning the relationship between the WTO and international trade law, on the one hand, and the Third World, on the other hand. The claim is this: the WTO is anti-development, and international trade law helps tilt the playing field on which the great game of trade is played against developing countries. It is the most serious of the claims, I think, because the giant and still growing divide between the First World and the Third World is the most important challenge facing the multilateral trading system in these first few decades of the new millennium. Trade officials representing the governments of nearly four or five billion people, and the critics that sympathize with them who work in various United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions, seem to harbor doubts about the extent to which the system can accommodate the development needs, or even promote sustainable, balanced growth

Assessing the Modern Era of International Trade

This Book Review surveys The Post-Cold War Trading System by Sylvia Ostry. Part I explains the features of international trade law and policy the book highlights, and the perspectives offered by the book about those features. Part II of this review critically analyzes the book. It identifies the issues not addressed, and the arguments not made. Part II thereby imparts to the prospective reader a sense of what must be learned from other sources on international trade law and policy. Part III offers a brief concluding observation about the future direction of international trade scholarship

International Dimensions of Japanese Insolvency Law

This paper offers an introduction and overview of the international aspects of Japanese insolvency law. There are three international dimensions to Japan's insolvency law: jurisdiction of Japanese courts; the status of foreign claimants; and recognition and enforcement of foreign proceedings. These dimensions are characterized by a distinctly territorial approach. This inward-looking way of handling insolvency cases is incongruous with developments in the comparative and international law context. It is also at odds with broader globalization trends, some of which are evident in Japan's economic crisis. Analogies to international trade law are useful: the post-Uruguay Round dispute resolution mechanism has insights for the problem of jurisdiction; the famous national treatment principle is a basis for critiquing the status foreign claimants have in Japanese insolvency proceedings; and trade negotiations might be a model for expanding recognition and enforcement of foreign proceedings. As a corollary, the relationship between the extant insolvency regime and Japanese banks?many of which are internationally active?is explored. Problem banks are at the heart of the economic crisis. Yet, the insolvency law regime has not been applied to failed or failing banks, partly on grounds of the systemic risk that would be triggered by a stay of creditor proceedings. The reluctance to use the regime in bank cases is open to question on a number of grounds. Similarly, the failure to develop a harmonized set of international bank bankruptcy rules to avoid BCCI-type liquidation problems is addressed, and a proposal for proceeding in this direction is offered.

Book Review: India's Long Road - the Search for Prosperity, by Vijay Joshi, Oxford University Press, 2017, Isbn: 9780190610135, Pp. 347.

Well-travelled international law teachers, students, and practitioners know there are a few countries that defy mastery. Repeated trips to such countries across decades, and still the sense of wonder, indeed inscrutability, prevails. At or near the top of this short list of countries that overwhelm even the most seasoned scholarly sojourners is India. Finding a book that explains in a clear, comprehensive manner any of the principal dimensions of India and its civilization is nearly impossible. However, for the reader in need of a single source about the Indian economy, the search is over

Five Theoretical Themes In The World Trade organization Adjudicatory System

I am not sure about the poetic tastes of my distinguished colleagues on the panel

Design and Challenges of Banking and Foreign Exchange Regulation in India

In the post-British Raj Era, two hallmarks characterize Indian banking law: financial inclusion and financial liberalization. Indian banking law and policy has emphasized incorporation of the unbanked and under-banked as part of an overall development strategy to alleviate poverty. This emphasis has been consistent since 1947. Also since Partition, that law and policy has regulated foreign exchange (FX). But, on this topic India reversed course. In the 1990s, India shifted from Nehruvian Socialist- style controls to FX liberalization. To some degree, underlying both the consistent emphasis on financial inclusion, and the new turn toward financial liberalization, are long-held suspicions in India about unbridled western-style financial markets. The suspicions may work to India’s long-term advantage. Unchecked financial liberalization may undermine financial inclusion, so a cautionary approach may avoid exacerbating marginalization. Simply put, the principal challenge for Indian banking law and policy is to continue liberalization while furthering inclusion. Can India achieve inclusive liberalization