Max Baucus: “we sympathize with the general concern of the Senator from Massachusetts; namely, making sure that foreign investors do…”

“we sympathize with the general concern of the Senator from Massachusetts; namely, making sure that foreign investors do not have greater rights in the United States compared to domestic investors in challenging whether an action by a government body, say a State, city or county, is a takings under the Constitution of the United States. We all recognize that. This is an area that is complex. It requires us to step back a little bit and find a ``level playing field'' between foreign investors and U.S. investors. The Senator from Texas is absolutely correct. The main reason we are addressing this situation really began years ago when U.S. investors were being discriminated against overseas. It caused quite a few problems in many countries. So over the years, various treaties have been written between the United States and other countries trying to create a balance between foreign and domestic investors in the United States and in other countries. That is the whole goal here. When NAFTA was written, including chapter 11, there probably was too much emphasis given to protecting U.S. investors' rights overseas rather than the interests of government here at home because that was the biggest concern at that time. Since then, there has been a rising concern that perhaps NAFTA went too far and gave too great a protection to foreign investors versus domestic investors in the United States, which led to concerns raised by the Senator from Massachusetts.”