Using International Arbitration to Avoid International Arbitration

Good news so far from the never-ending softwood lumber dispute between Canada and the U.S. Things are moving along very quickly. As Roger has noted, the U.S. and Canada decided to send all future disputes about softwood lumber to the London Court of International Arbitration, a group that normally hears disputes between private parties only. What is weird is that NAFTA itself is essentially an arbitration system. But the two parties opted out of their own arbitration system in favor of a private system. Strange, but it is working out so far.