Cite as: 504 U. S. 607 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
to acquire goods, see, e. g., Stato di Rumania v. Trutta, [1926] Foro It. I 584, 585-586, 589 (Corte di Cass. del Regno, Italy), translated and reprinted in part in 26 Am. J. Int'l L. 626-629 (Supp. 1932).
The commercial character of the Bonods is confirmed by the fact that they are in almost all respects garden-variety debt instruments: They may be held by private parties; they are negotiable and may be traded on the international market (except in Argentina); and they promise a future stream of cash income. We recognize that, prior to the enactment of the FSIA, there was authority suggesting that the issuance of public debt instruments did not constitute a commercial activity. Victory Transport, 336 F. 2d, at 360 (dicta). There is, however, nothing distinctive about the state's assumption of debt (other than perhaps its purpose) that would cause it always to be classified as jure imperii, and in this regard it is significant that Victory Transport expressed confusion as to whether the "nature" or the "purpose" of a transaction was controlling in determining commerciality, id., at 359-360. Because the FSIA has now clearly established that the "nature" governs, we perceive no basis for concluding that the issuance of debt should be treated as categorically different from other activities of foreign states.
Argentina contends that, although the FSIA bars consideration of "purpose," a court must nonetheless fully consider the context of a transaction in order to determine whether it is "commercial." Accordingly, Argentina claims that the Court of Appeals erred by defining the relevant conduct in what Argentina considers an overly generalized, acontextual manner and by essentially adopting a per se rule that all "issuance of debt instruments" is "commercial." See 941 F. 2d, at 151 (" '[I]t is self-evident that issuing public debt is a commercial activity within the meaning of [the FSIA]' "), quoting Shapiro v. Republic of Bolivia, 930 F. 2d 1013, 1018 (CA2 1991). We have no occasion to consider such a per se rule, because it seems to us that even in full context, there
615
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