[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 28 (Monday, July 17, 1995)]
[Pages 1219-1220]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Senate Transmitting the Trinidad and Tobago-United States 
Investment Treaty

July 11, 1995

To the Senate of the United States:

    With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to 
ratification, I transmit herewith the Treaty Between the Government of 
the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of 
Trinidad and Tobago Concerning the Encouragement and Reciprocal 
Protection of Investment, with Annex and Protocol, signed at Washington 
on September 26, 1994. I transmit also for the information of the 
Senate, the report of the Department of State with respect to this 
Treaty.
    The bilateral investment Treaty (BIT) with Trinidad and Tobago is 
the third such treaty between the United States and a member of the 
Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The Treaty will protect U.S. investment 
and assist the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in its efforts to develop 
its economy by creating conditions more favorable for U.S. private 
investment and thus strengthen the development of its private sector.
    The Treaty is fully consistent with U.S. polity toward international 
and domestic investment. A specific tenet of U.S. policy, reflected in 
this Treaty, is that U.S. investment abroad and foreign investment in 
the United States should receive national treatment. Under this Treaty, 
the Parties also agree to international law standards for expropriation 
and compensation for expropriation; free transfer of funds related to 
investments; freedom of investments from performance requirements; fair, 
equitable, and most-favored-nation treatment; and the investor or 
investment's freedom to choose to resolve disputes with the host 
government through international arbitration.
    I recommend that the Senate consider this Treaty as soon as 
possible, and give its advice

[[Page 1220]]

and consent to ratification of the Treaty, with Annex and Protocol, at 
an early date.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
July 11, 1995.