The following article discusses the changes in investment protections resulting from the 2018 adoption of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), a new treaty between the three neighboring countries, to replace the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

It begins with an introduction to NAFTA, its contributions to the field of international investment law, and the emergence and rise of USMCA.

The article then follows with a comparative legal analysis of the modifications to investment protections from NAFTA to USMCA, with a focus on the following topics: (1) investment arbitration availability; (2) legacy and pending claims; (3) scope of available investment protections; (4) available investment protections; (5) procedural matters.

The article concludes that NAFTA did a good job of not only inducing investment in its three member nations. Additionally, NAFTA was indeed a pioneer in treaty law, as it has been appropriated by other bilateral and multilateral investment agreements. Although there are substantial investment provisions in the new treaty, USMCA contains less investment protections than its predecessor NAFTA. However, even though investment protections are considerably reduced, USMCA still grants substantial foreign investment protections to investors from Mexico and the United States. The article also offers relevant insight for investors on how to navigate these changes and mitigate the political risk intertwined with foreign investment and doing business abroad, in light of the new multilateral treaty at hand.