TC Energy’s US$15B Keystone XL claim thrown out by trade tribunal

CALGARY — A free trade arbitration tribunal has tossed out TC Energy Corp.’s claim that it is owed US$15 billion in damages as a result of U.S. President Joe Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline permit.

TC Energy launched a claim in 2021 under the legacy rules tied to the old North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, because of what it said was the U.S. government’s breach of its free trade obligations.

TC Energy proposed the Keystone XL project under the Obama administration, which ultimately rejected it on environmental grounds. U.S. President Donald Trump revived the project, but Biden then killed it again by revoking the pipeline’s permit on his first day as president in 2021.

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal sided with the U.S. last Friday in the matter by refusing to hear the case.

The tribunal said the legacy provisions tied to the old NAFTA only permit claims based on breaches that allegedly occurred while NAFTA was in force.

Biden revoked Keystone XL’s permit a year after NAFTA was terminated and the new US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) took its place.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 16, 2024.

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The Canadian Press