Tax Discrimination in the NAFTA Bloc: The Impact of Tax and Trade Agreements on the Cross-Border Trade in Services

This paper considers the impact of international agreements in disciplining tax discrimination affecting cross-bordertrade in services. It addresses three questions. First, how do tax and trade agreements interact in the discipline of tax measures affecting cross-border service providers? Second, does this interaction result in tax discrimination against foreign service providers in the NAFTA bloc? Third, if so, what remedies, if any, are available to cross-border service providers with respect to tax measures that are discnminatory? The paper concludes with illustrative examples that service providers in the NAFTA bloc, depending on the applicable treaty are subject to differing tax treatments, are potentially vulnerable to different types of tax discrimination and may be subject to different dispute resolution alternatives. It suggests that the role of taxation in trade agreements is likely to become a compelling issue among nations, and in the ongoing negotiations under the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement