TheCanada–China FIPPA: Its Uniqueness and Non-Reciprocity

Abstract

SummaryThe Canada–China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (China FIPPA)is novel and, in key respects, non-reciprocal in favour of China. For example, it would provide a general right of market access by Chinese investors to Canada but not by Canadian investors to China; allow wider scope for investment screening by China than by Canada; omit a long-standing Canadian reservation for performance requirements that favour Aboriginal peoples; and dilute Canada’s established position on transparency in investor-state arbitration. These and other textual aspects of theChina FIPPAare highlighted in comparison to other trade and investment treaties, especially those to which Canada is a party, that provide for investorstate arbitration. TheChina FIPPAis also examined in the current economic context of investment flows between Canada and China. The article responds partly to claims by Canadian trade officials that theChina FIPPAis unremarkable because it simply continues Canada’s past foreign investment promotion and protection practice.