Introduction

The Obama Administration recently announced in the President's Trade Policy Agenda that it would "review the implementation of our FTAs and BITs to ensure that they advance the public interest." This hearing will focus on the investment protections that are included in U.S. FTAs and BITs. Those provisions have helped to safeguard investments held by U.S. citizens in dozens of foreign countries and protect U.S. investors from expropriation without compensation, as well as discriminatory and inequitable treatment by foreign governments. At the same time, concerns have been ...