The rapid rise in global fragmentation - foreign investment, global supply chains, and 'production sharing' - is fundamentally reshaping the multilateral trading system. This paper uses a simple economic modeling framework to understand how the global fragmentation phenomenon may reshape the...

This paper shows that Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS) makes multinational firms more aggressive by increasing cost-reducing investments with the aim to enlarge the potential compensation an ISDS provision may offer. While a larger investment reduces the market distortion, it will also...

In the past decade, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has adjudicated over forty disputes involving China and other powerful economies. These cases are often trumpeted as a sign of the enduring strength of the trade regime and the efficacy of international law in managing geopolitical tensions...

This Concept Paper addresses some of the issues raised with respect to the development of an APEC Investment Treaty Handbook. The Paper proceeds as follows. Part 1 sets out the legal and governance challenges posed by investment treaties, giving rise to the need for a resource like the APEC...

The paper observes that the fragmented international investment law regime is moving toward harmonisation. In the near future, five major agreements could govern a very substantial share of global investment: a United States-China bilateral investment treaty (BIT), a European Union-China BIT,...

The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the GATS/Telecom Agreement. This is done by looking at the guiding principles for negotiating market access for foreign investors, by comparing the Agreement with the Telecom Agreement under NAFTA and by discussing the merits of the multilateral approach...