Lobbies and the USMCA: the role of interest groups in the negotiation of the New NAFTA’s investment rules

This paper examines the USMCA (United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement) negotiation process that led to the replacement of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), fulfilling a key Trump-era promise. Focused on Chapter 14’s investment provisions, our analysis uncovers the different outcomes for government contract investors, that were able to maintain the protection levels and ISDS (investor-state dispute settlement) access, to the detriment of other investors. Emphasizing the legal framework involving 25 advisory trade committees linked to the United States Trade Representative (USTR), we scrutinize a 40-document corpus, revealing the significant influence of interest groups, notably the National Manufacturers Association. Findings illuminate the intricacies of economic agreement negotiations and underscore lobbies’ substantial impact on U.S. foreign economic policy formulation.