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Policy Forum

Investment Protectionism and What to Do about It

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Date and Time
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Location
1st floor/Wintergarden
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Featuring
Featuring James Bacchus, Drafting Committee Chair, International Chamber of Commerce Guidelines for International Investment, and former WTO Appellate Body Chairman; Nancy McLernon, President and CEO, Organization for International Investment; Josh Kallmer, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Investment, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; moderated by Dan Ikenson, Director, Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies, Cato Institute.

Like international trade, cross-border direct investment drives economic growth. The value of cross-border investment flows has increased dramatically worldwide in response to liberalization of investment rules over the past couple of decades. But the trend toward liberalization has slowed, even reversed, in recent years. In April, the International Chamber of Commerce published the first revision in 40 years to its International Investment Guidelines, and the Obama administration published long-awaited revisions to its template for international investment agreements—the so-called model bilateral investment treaty. Will these developments help rein in investment protectionism. How will they influence cross-border investment flows? Can they help achieve the vaunted macroeconomic rebalancing?