The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) were designed to strengthen investor's rights at the expense of community rights and environmental protection. Both deals have achieved their aims.
Trade Barriers to the Public Good provides a detailed examination of NAFTA and AIT cases involving MMT - a chemical additive brought into Canada by the US company Ethyl Corporation Inc. When the Canadian federal government banned the importation of MMT under the Fuel Additives Act, Ethyl Corp. filed a claim under NAFTA Chapter 11 seeking US $201 million in damages. Alex Michalos uses a case study of MMT to reveal exactly how and why quasi-judicial international dispute processes provide significantly less protection for the public interest than the routine procedures for passing an ordinary Act of Parliament.
Trade Barriers to the Public Good illustrates why and how constitutionally protected democratic rights are undermined by trade deals such as the one involving MMT and, failing termination of NAFTA and AIT - the author's first choice for remedial action - recommends precise changes in dispute settlement rules that are needed to protect individuals and the environment.

Alex Michalos is the author of 18 books, including Militarism And The Quality Of Life (1989) and A Pragmatic Approach to Business Ethics (1995). He has also authored the 5-volume North American Social Report: A Comparative Quality of Life in Canada and the United States from 1964 to 1974 (198-82), as well as the 4-volume Global Report on Student Well-Being (1991-93). Michalos is also the founder of three scholarly journals. He currently teaches politics and social science at the University of Northern British Columbia.

Alex C. Michalos' profile page

"Trade Barriers to the Public Good brings a rigorous - and refreshing - moral perspective to bear on the policy implications of trade treaty provisions." Scott Sinclair, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives