ASSOCIATE

Emmanuel González Carbajal

Associate

emmanuel.gonzalezcarbajal@deminimislaw.com
Geneva: +41 (0)77 279 0900

José Emmanuel González Carbajal is an international economic lawyer. His practice spans international arbitration, international trade law, and international investment law. He focuses on the boundaries between these regimes and on the assessment of regulatory measures in complex cross-border disputes.

Mr. González Carbajal has developed a strong practice in trade remedies, with a specific focus on subsidies and countervailing measures. He assists clients in classifying and assessing state support schemes and in evaluating the legal exposure of trade protection measures. He also supports decision-making on compliance, litigation risk, and strategic response options.

He has regularly advised ad hoc arbitral tribunals and parties in proceedings involving treaty interpretation and core procedural questions. His experience covers evidentiary matters, jurisdictional issues, and admissibility objections, including disputes under the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA). He is widely regarded as one of the leading specialists in the USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRLM) and has contributed to every RRLM dispute to date (5 out of 5).

He has almost ten years of professional experience in international law. At Mexico’s Ministry of Economy, Mr. González Carbajal served as Director of International Trade Disciplines and led work across key areas of treaty implementation and negotiation. His portfolio included sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), technical barriers to trade (TBT), state-owned enterprises, competition policy, and consumer protection. Earlier in his career, Emmanuel worked at the Office of the Legal Advisor of the Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he represented Mexico in contentious and advisory proceedings on issues relating to public and private international law litigation, covering state and diplomatic immunities, maritime arbitration, human rights and environmental law issues.

He holds an LL.M. in International Law (International Economic Law), cum laude, from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva. He obtained his law degree with honors from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). During his studies, Emmanuel represented Mexico for several years in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. He also attended the Public International Law course at The Hague Academy of International Law.

Languages: Spanish and English (fluent); French and Portuguese (working knowledge).

scope of expertise

Practice
Areas

USMCA & International Trade Law

Emmanuel serves as law clerk to panels constituted under the USMCA / CUSMA / T-MEC Rapid Response Labor Mechanism, assisting in legal research, drafting, and analysis in complex cross-border disputes involving freedom of association, collective bargaining, and trade-labor linkages.

International Dispute Settlement

Emmanuel has contributed to legal strategy, research, and drafting in international dispute settlement across trade, labor, investment law, and public international law. His experience includes assisting adjudicatory bodies, supporting Mexico’s representation in international proceedings on privileges and immunities, defending the State before foreign tribunals, and participating in cases concerning human rights, environmental law, and the law of the sea.

General Public International Law

Emmanuel has experience addressing treaty interpretation and public international law issues in international dispute settlement. His work includes analyzing the interplay between treaty obligations, soft law standards, and authoritative interpretations in cross-border proceedings.

recent dispute experience

Representative matters

Bader case (MEX-USA-2024-31A-04)

Ongoing USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism proceedings addressing allegations of employer interference, harassment, and retaliation aimed at preventing the formation of an independent union at a leather manufacturing facility.

Pirelli case (MEX-USA-2024-31A-03)

Ongoing USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism proceedings involving allegations that workers at a tire manufacturing facility were denied freedom of association and collective bargaining rights through the imposition of a facility-specific collective agreement below industry-wide standards.

Camino Rojo Mine case (MEX-USA-2024-31A-02)

Ongoing USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism proceedings concerning alleged employer interference in union affairs at a gold and silver mining facility, including claims of undermining the titular union and promoting affiliation with an external union.

Atento Pachuca case (MEX-USA-2024-31A-01)

Dispute under the USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism regarding alleged interference with workers’ rights to freedom of association at a services facility, including alleged reprisals against union organizers and favoritism toward a rival union.

San Martín Mine case (MEX-USA-2023-31A-01)

Dispute under the USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism concerning allegations of denial of freedom of association and collective bargaining rights at a mining facility during a prolonged strike. The case involved questions about the resumption of operations with an unauthorized union and jurisdictional limits of the Mechanism.