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News from the movements

Digital trade deals, monopolies and crypto: The new architecture of private control
9-Jun-2026 bilaterals.org
The ideological convergence between digital free-trade policy, Silicon Valley platform ideology and crypto-libertarianism is difficult to ignore. All promote distrust toward public regulation, celebrate borderless markets, and frame technological systems as superior alternatives to democratic governance.
Alert to the Malagasy population concerning the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union, to be signed on Wednesday 10 June on the island of Mauritius
9-Jun-2026
The EPA would have a negative and potentially devastating impact on populations’ right to food, as well as on peasant producers’ right to use, select, protect and exchange seeds of their choice.
The global trade architecture and the rush for critical minerals
4-Jun-2026 IBON International
The global rush for critical minerals, driven by the demand for renewable energy technologies, has intensified competition among major powers seeking to secure control over emerging “green” value chains.
Social organizations in Panama and international allies are promoting a petition demanding that the government reject negotiations with the mining company First Quantum
4-Jun-2026 International Request Form Panama
Social organizations in Panama are promoting a petition to the Panamanian government, urging President José Raúl Mulino to reject any negotiations with First Quantum Minerals to reopen the Cobre Panamá mine, whose contract was declared unconstitutional by Panama’s Supreme Court in 2023.
What’s at stake in calls for revamping India’s BIT framework
1-Jun-2026 Madhyam
Instead of relying on an investment treaty-based approach and weakening the 2015 Model BIT framework, India should initiate domestic policy reforms such as strengthening the rule of law.
Stop the “modernised” global and free trade agreement between the European Union and Mexico
21-May-2026 European Trade Justice Coalition
We, the civil society organisations who have signed this letter, are writing to the political leaders of Mexico and the European Union to urge them not to ratify either the “modernised” Free Trade Agreement.
UK trade deal with Gulf turns a blind eye to human rights abuses, say campaigners
21-May-2026 Trade Justice Movement
The deal locks the UK into deeper commercial ties with some of the most repressive governments in the world, for economic gains so marginal they barely register.
Big Tech’s digital trade agenda is a danger for farmers and food systems
18-May-2026 GRAIN
Criticism against Big Tech’s digital crusade is growing, along with demands for greater regulation. Yet, through underhand tactics such as trade deals, tech companies are blocking reform.
Prominent Canadians urge halt to Canada–Ecuador free trade deal, cite dangerous risks to rights and the environment
11-May-2026 Mining Watch
Prominent voices from across Canada—including human rights, Indigenous, labour, and environment leaders—are calling on the federal government to halt a proposed free trade agreement with Ecuador.
Resisting the weaponization of interdependence
7-May-2026 Focus on the Global South
The unilateral actions by Trump in the US have exposed a highly skewed system where powerful economies essentially flex their muscles and weaponize trade instruments like tariffs to suit their own economic and political agendas.
Unpacking the ASEAN–Canada FTA negotiation
7-May-2026 Transnational Institute
The ASEAN-Canada FTA is one of the agreements currently being negotiated that includes an investment protection chapter with an ISDS mechanism. This briefing note summarizes the October 2025 webinar, “Unpacking the ASEAN-Canada Free Trade Agreement (external link) ”, which examined the impact of ISDS and highlighted Canadian mining practices through emblematic ISDS cases.
“Free trade deal”, what? Chinese sue Australia over Darwin Port
6-May-2026 Michael West Media
The Chinese owner of Darwin Port suing the Australian government shows why ‘free trade’ deals must not include investor rights to sue governments (ISDS).
EFTA–Mercosur Free Trade Agreement: The climate implications for Switzerland
5-May-2026 Public Eye
Une nouvelle étude d’Alliance Sud et Public Eye montre que les émissions de CO2e liées à l’accord pourraient augmenter de 112 % rien que pour les produits agricoles.
Fossil fuel phase-out conference: governments cite ISDS as a barrier to just transition
5-May-2026 AFTINET
Australia and 56 other governments, representing around one third of global GDP, met last week in Santa Marta, Colombia, and agreed to map out practical ways to phase out fossil fuels at the first global diplomatic forum to assess practical steps to do so.
Resisting Big Tech empires (and their trade rules)
30-Apr-2026 bilaterals.org
A clear message emerged from a recent conference: digital trade rules are entrenching Big Tech’s power grab over the digital economy. Those rules must be resisted.
10 key takeaways on the India NZ FTA
30-Apr-2026
The resulting agreement is a short-term political trophy because it was negotiated under a shield of secrecy and spun by supporters before anyone had access to the text. Now we can analyse the detail, the downsides of the deal are laid bare.
Scrap India-New Zealand FTA – An onslaught on Indian agriculture
29-Apr-2026 All India Kisan Sabha
By signing the Free Trade Agreement with New Zealand, the Indian government has surrendered the interests of farmers before the demands of global finance.
The IP laws that stop disenshittification
29-Apr-2026 Jacobin
Laws included in trade deals protect US companies’ rent extraction schemes and stop us from fixing or improving our own devices — from phones and tractors to insulin pumps. Repealing them will save billions and hit Trump’s donor class.
Letter to the Government of Colombia and President Gustavo Petro Urrego
28-Apr-2026 Institute for Policy Studies
A new multi-organization letter to Petro and his government urges them to take the Santa Marta Conference as an opportunity to reject free trade agreements and investment protects systems that put profiteers over communities.
Trade deal with US harming farmers’ interests, says AIKS leader
27-Apr-2026 The Hindu
All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) president Ashok Dhawale has alleged that India’s trade agreements with the United States have turned into a curse for farmers, severely impacting the agricultural sector. The trade deals had weakened domestic agriculture, while rising input costs such as fertilizers, pesticides, diesel, and seeds made farming increasingly unviable.