Over 300 U.S. state legislators strongly support USTR’s efforts to remove ISDS from NAFTA

In a September 12, 2018 letter, 312 legislators—including Democrats as well as Republicans—from all 50 U.S. states wrote that they “strongly support” U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer’s efforts to remove ISDS from NAFTA. In contrast, a May 2018 letter in support of ISDS in NAFTA gathered the signatures of 12 state legislators only.

ISDS finds strong support among Republicans in the U.S. Congress. A group of 103 Republican senators and representatives signed a letter on March 20, 2018 calling on Lighthizer to maintain ISDS in NAFTA. In the letter, the lawmakers cautioned that excluding ISDS altogether or maintaining it in an opt-in system in a renegotiated NAFTA would “jeopardize Republican support” to the deal.