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corporate interests

Canada-Brazil CEO forum to consider trade agreement with Mercosur
10-Aug-2011
In a show of the importance the Canadian government places on relations with Brazil and Mercosur the delegation includes four cabinet ministers and a cadre of business leaders. Canada has reiterated its interest in reaching a trade agreement with Brazil and Mercosur, which will be one of the main points of the recently created Brazil-Canada CEO forum.
Philip Morris v. Uruguay on cigarette branding: Will investor-state arbitration send restrictions on tobacco marketing up in smoke?
4-Aug-2011 Info Justice
Philip Morris asserts that fair and equitable treatment includes a right to a “stable and predictable regulatory framework” as well as rights under treaties in addition to customary international law.
Corporations, unions exert pressure over Korea free trade pact
31-Jul-2011
As Congress draws nearer to considering three new free trade agreements, union members are putting pressure on their congressional representatives to oppose them, arguing that they’d cost the state more manufacturing jobs, even as corporate supporters see new hope for quick passage.
A trade barrier to defeating AIDS
27-Jul-2011 NY Times
The new strategy is to treat people in Egypt, Paraguay, Turkmenistan or China — middle-income countries, all — as if they or their governments could pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year each for AIDS drugs.
Free trade deals: Lobbying fever foreshadows winners, losers
26-Jul-2011 Huffington Post
With so much attention being paid to the debt-ceiling hijinks, the major lobbying effort for the three trade bills — to ratify the US FTAs with Panama, Colombia and Korea — has been taking place almost entirely outside public view. But many of the biggest American companies have been engaged in a massive, months-long effort to get the bills passed.
US: Garment industry backs ’yarn forward’ rule in TPP pact
18-Jul-2011 just-style.com
The US garment industry is supporting a "yarn forward" rule of origin proposed by the US Trade Representative (USTR) during the latest round of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement negotiations. However, Vietnam presents a "special case".
SOCMA offers support for free trade pacts with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia
17-Jul-2011
The Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA) issued its support this week of the passage of pending free-trade agreements (FTA) with South Korea, Panama and Colombia by two Congressional committees. SOCMA is the US-based trade association representing custom and batch manufacturers, including contract manufacturers of fine chemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, and active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Beware the tobacco bullies: Do not let them use free trade agreements to endanger public health
9-Jul-2011
Tobacco giants are invoking investor-state dispute mechanisms in bilateral investment agreements to challenge moves of governments which are aimed at controlling the widespread use of tobacco products. This scary development highlights the dangers of signing trade or investment treaties which could give corporations the right to sue governments over legitimate health or other public interest regulations.
Tobacco giant suing Australian govt ’a warning’ for NZ
28-Jun-2011
Tobacco giant Philip Morris suing the Australian government for introducing plain packaging laws for tobacco should send shockwaves through this country as it seeks a free trade deal involving the US, says an academic critic of the deal.
US business team in Nepal looking for investment opportunity
28-Jun-2011 Himalayan Times
The visit — by a team including Johnson & Johnson, GE Healthcare, Rockwell Automation, Monsanto, and Bell Helicopter — demonstrates renewed US interest in Nepal’s economy building on the recently-signed US-Nepal Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).
5 WikiLeaks revelations exposing the rapidly growing corporatism dominating American diplomacy abroad
27-Jun-2011 Alternet
One of WikiLeaks’ greatest achievements has been to expose the exorbitant amount of influence that multinational corporations have over Washington’s diplomacy.
Julia Gillard stands firm on cigarette plain packaging
27-Jun-2011
Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she won’t be intimidated by big tobacco after Philip Morris launched legal action to try to force the government to back down on introducing plain packaging for cigarettes.
New AMCHAM chief rosy about Korea-U.S. FTA ratification
26-Jun-2011
The new head of the U.S. business community in South Korea said Wednesday that he is "optimistic" about the early ratification of a bilateral free trade deal and is doing his best to achieve it.
Shape of US TPP pharmaceuticals chapter emerges
16-Jun-2011 Infojustice
The TPP chapter may be best seen as a significant step toward the pharmaceutical industry’s ultimate goal, which is a binding international agreement on drug pricing that would restrain the ability of governments to use collective purchasing power to demand prices below “market” levels.
Ecuador prepares for new hearing in Occidental Petroleum case
15-Jun-2011
The office of Ecuador’s Attorney General will represent Ecuador in Washington at a June 30 hearing in the arbitration case filed against the Andean country by US oil company Occidental Petroleum Corp.
Philip Morris takes Uruguay to international court because of tobacco-ban policy
9-Jun-2011
One of the world’s biggest tobacco companies is launching a claim against Uruguay for considering the country’s legislation commercially damaging to the company. Philip Morris corporation has filed a claim at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a World Bank branch.
Spain fights back against perceived threat from PNG
9-Jun-2011 FIS
Spain’s tuna canning industry is feeling under attack by Papua New Guinea’s privileged access to the European Union market. Spain is consequently engaging in a smear campaign against the tariff-free market access of PNG and the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, a fisheries industry consultative meeting was told this week.
Cargill CEO: Move forward on free trade
8-Jun-2011 Star Tribune
"Commercially meaningful bilateral agreements must be passed now or the United States will be left behind," warns Greg Page, the head of Cargill.
Cargill hosts Rep of Korea Ambassador to the US, the Honorable Han Duk-soo: Urges approval of US-South Korea FTA
8-Jun-2011
Cargill today hosted an employee forum and a business roundtable discussion on the US–South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), which is currently pending Presidential notification to and approval from U.S. Congress.
Wrestling with Big Pharma
2-Jun-2011
Canadians spend a lot of money (public and private) on health care and much of that is spent on drugs — some $23.4 billion in 2008. Provincial insurance plans are desperately trying to cope, looking to initiatives like the recently passed Ontario law that caps prices of generic drugs at 25 per cent of the brand name equivalent.