So, states should be allowed to inflict multi-billion dollar fines on corporations trough state institutions and courts, but corporations should not be allowed to sue governments for expropriation, backward-enforced laws and other populist transgressions?
All comments
John:
26-Aug-2014
26-Aug-2014
If the US government gets their way Europe is going to stay busy building more hospitals and graduating more doctors.
Bernard k. Gordon:
21-Aug-2014
21-Aug-2014
The title of this report does not comport with the facts as contained in the report. The US acted in good faith, in a way specifically designed to promote sound environmental goals related to forestry. Those goals were supported by the U.S. Congress and the U.S. public, and as the report shows, Peruvian officials seemed to act in a way that would undermine those environmental goals. The record as shown in the report reflects sound and commendable procedures on the part of US Trade officials, but the report aims to frighten readers with the misleading headline that reads "US trade officials say it’s their way or the highway on TPP." In fact nothing in the report bears directly on the TPP.
In sum, this report is an obvious and flawed effort to undermine t he TPP, and by citing such well-known anti-TPP activists as Jane Kelsey in New Zealand, the report undermines whatever credibility it might have had.
Bernard k. Gordon:
21-Aug-2014
21-Aug-2014
A biased and ill-informed report. Among many other problems, it misstates the original goals of the WTO, and it totally ignores the facts surrounding the creation of the TPP. It is in essence a scare-tactic report that does not warrant serious attention.
Bernard K. Gordon
Prof. Emeritus, Univ. of New Hampshire
Professor Gilbert NMO Morris:
20-Aug-2014
20-Aug-2014
Free Trade Zones, secured by Free Trade Agreements are as notoriously popular as they are infamously over-rated. The problem is not the intention of the designers. It is rather a lack of intention or design sufficiently imagined, implemented and managed for the possibility of a sustainable platform.
One of the reasons, the EU is a tragedy continuing as a farce, is that it is a reactive arrangement, advanced only when some European leader needs to divert attention from domestic issues, and claim to be a person of international standing and vision. This led to awful stupidities, such as the fiscal management programme and the Exchange Rate Mechanism; which both makes Germany more powerful then half of all Europe and requires it at the same time to pretend to incline toward multilateralism.
This Africa FTA must have as a basis an understanding of whether it is an "integration" or a "liberalisation" arrangement and all that that means. It should be secured by a Bond, proper dispute resolution institutions with professional allowances and a financing arm that insures that Africans themselves are able to participate; since a free trade zone is a "put" on the part of government which is not determinative.
It remains to be seen whether such agreements can be arranged as thoughtfully as they should be.
Professor Gilbert NMO Morris
John:
19-Aug-2014
19-Aug-2014
In 1969 I worked in the USA for 6 months. During that time I gained a lot of weight which I lost after return to the UK. My GP claimed that it may have been due to the growth hormones fed to USA cattle getting into the human food chain which was disputed at the time. I did not change my eating habits in type or quantity during that 6 months. Not proof but scary.
anonymous:
15-Aug-2014
15-Aug-2014
The notion that investors are greedy and governments and national courts work solely in people’s interest is wrong.
There are EU member states where corruption is rife and whose governments, legislatures and courts aren’t trusted by their own citizens, let alone foreign investors. There are EU member states under permanent monitoring mechanism by the European Commission in relation to their justice and law-enforcement systems. Corruption, lobbying, populism and protectionism are on the rise in all of the EU, USA and Canada - resulting in many unjust decisions serving only the private interest of those in power. If the EU, Canada and USA are going to trade with each other, then a proper Investor-state dispute resolution mechanism is the least we can do - and obviously such mechanism should be able to overrule harm done to investors by governments and national courts, such mechanism should be run by judges who are equidistant to both investor and government/national court.
ISDS is not related to environmental or social issues - its purpose is to restrain the free-rein of corrupt governments and courts hiding behind populist or protectionist slogans.
Chris:
12-Aug-2014
12-Aug-2014
Where does TiSA fit in?
It would be easy to make such assurances about TTIP if the "more secret" TiSA services deal was in fact where the worst was hidden.
Wikileaks published documents in June which show TiSA mandating a very high level of deregulation despite the recent global financial crisis. Because we should learn from the crisis, not ignore its lessons, common sense (to me) seems to demand something like (in the US) a return to something like the Glass-Steagall Act.
If European and American banks and trade negotiators in advance, had agreed to play a sort of good cop/bad cop game to shift the Overton window away from fiscal responsibility, it wouldn’t surprise me at all, as that often seems to be a part of US politics.
Deregulation would be the very worst thing to do right now and if they continue to deregulate despite the GFC, it seems to me that this crucial point which should be contested, on the principle that smart governments dont make the same mistakes over and over, is lost.
Marc Maes:
11-Aug-2014
11-Aug-2014
The above article makes the common mistake to confuse ’siging" and "initialling": initialling is done by the chief negotiators, signing by the governments and ratification by the heads of state usually after the approval of the parliament.
The difference is important from the legal point of view, but also for civil society which can still campaign to prevent that an intialled text gets signed by their governments.
The Southern African regional EPA was only initialled on 15 July in Pretoria but has not been signed yet.
Owen Ramos:
4-Aug-2014
4-Aug-2014
Didn’t mind the second guys... thought they were pretty dang good.
andy:
1-Aug-2014
1-Aug-2014
What is meant by encryption?
Paul:
31-Jul-2014
31-Jul-2014
Will this corn being exported to México be the Transgenic type and if so will the corn products be labelled as transgenic? I very much doubt it.
México should not need to import corn, but mistakes made by the 1994 Nafta agreement meant that many small farmers could not compete with the foreign US competition & as a result these farms closed resulting in México having to import corn!
edd nieva:
6-Jul-2014
6-Jul-2014
In manufacturing companies using imported materials from japan from different local suppliers, what are the provision in Jpepa in paying taxes. We belong to automotive
companies and one of our local supplier with Japanese material content already lower their prices but I don’t have any idea how they give such discount. But many suppliers still not giving any. Please elaborate the policy so that I can claim from others.
Regards
margsview:
3-Jul-2014
3-Jul-2014
All indications are that is exactly what the European Commission wants and will do (restrict negotiations between European and US financial entities to the exclusion of others). Then the lower international standards of regulations will allow the US financial institutions to be reduced and controlled by the EU. If this is in fact the situation, then customer/taxpayers will have no protection from total ’bailout’ provisions added to both the EU and US banking system and therefore should act accordingly. See Cyprus EU template.
Andre:
30-Jun-2014
30-Jun-2014
It is an excellent agreement that could serve as a model for better trade deals.
Andre:
30-Jun-2014
30-Jun-2014
After the outrageous BNP Paribas case of US extraterritorial enforcement of sanctions against third nations and the prosecution of European banks for the suprime mortgage regulatory failure on the US side there is really no credible base for that. And accounting rules? US GAAP is a mess. The EU favoured IAS are so much better.
Europe should deepen its own banking and financial regulations while the Obama administration is elections-locked and in the upcoming multipolar world it should seek to let the US sign an association agreement and apply the Acquis communautaire.
NonMerci:
25-Jun-2014
25-Jun-2014
Luxembourg : Les députés de la Chambre vont débattre du Traité Transatlantique le 11 juillet
none:
7-Jun-2014
7-Jun-2014
African regional integration is obstructed by protectionist nationalist zero-sum stances between African countries themselves - not by EPA requirements.
EU is not forcing anything on these countries - they are free to not conclude any FTAs with the EU and to integrated among themselves, but they don’t have progress on that front either.
L’Indigné du Canapé:
5-Jun-2014
5-Jun-2014
Bonjour @bilaterals !
Merci d’avoir relayé mon article sur votre site/agrégateur.
J’espère qu’il a plu !
Néanmoins, j’aurais bien aimé voir citer le nom de mon blog sur votre site. En effet, Agoravox est un agrégateur, mais il renvoie lui aussi vers des auteurs indépendants !
Voilà, mais merci quand même et le combat anti TAFTA continue !
Dignement,
L’Indigné du Canapé
4-Sep-2014
Wow!!you impress me people of guatemala!!here in canada we think that you are a very intelligent nation don’t let them take a your land and poisonne it!!! Lots of love keep fighting!!!!:)