bilaterals.org logo
bilaterals.org logo

News from the movements

Empowerment or exploitation? The false promise of a women-inclusive trade deal
13-Mar-2026 bilaterals.org
The Canada-Indonesia trade deal’s “women-inclusive” label masks a neoliberal agenda that benefits Canadian corporations more than Indonesian women. It exploits feminist language to legitimize market expansion, while reinforcing structural inequalities—especially the burden of unpaid care work on women—and enabling corporate power through costly investor rights (ISDS). True gender justice requires systemic change, not just market inclusion.
Deals made under repealed tariffs should be reconsidered
12-Mar-2026 Public Citizen
The US Supreme Court’s decision invalidating the tariffs is yet another reason for countries like Indonesia to be wary of ratifying these deals negotiated with the Trump administration.
Indonesia–US Trade Agreement challenged in Court, civil society coalition warns of risks to economic sovereignty
12-Mar-2026 CELIOS
A civil society coalition consisting of CELIOS, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Indonesia for Global Justice (IGJ), Solidaritas Perempuan, and supported by WALHI Nasional and Trend Asia has officially filed a lawsuit for Unlawful Government Act (Onrechtmatige Overheidsdaad) against the President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Jakarta Administrative Court (PTUN) on March 11, 2026.
US reciprocal tariffs is illegal, Agreement of Reciprocal Trade must not be ratified
12-Mar-2026 Koalisi Masyarakat untuk Keadilan Ekonomi
The Civil Society Coalition for Economic Justice (Koalisi MKE) urges President Prabowo Subianto not to ratify the reciprocal trade agreement (ART) between Indonesia and the United States (US) signed on February 19, 2026. The 19% tariff reduction obtained by Indonesia in this agreement is not commensurate with the surrender of the country’s sovereignty to US interests.
Indonesia-United States Agreement on Reciprocal Trade: a serious threat to national sovereignty and national interest - Indonesia for Global Justice
6-Mar-2026 Indonesia for Global Justice
Indonesia for Global Justice (IGJ) firmly condemns and strongly opposes the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) between Indonesia and the United States, which threatens national sovereignty, narrows Indonesia’s policy space for national development, and places Indonesia in a position equivalent to being a subordinate to U.S. interests.
Global call to mobilise against the WTO and free trade agreements
5-Mar-2026 La Via Campesina
As the World Trade Organization (WTO) prepares for its 14th Ministerial Conference in Yaoundé, Cameroon, this March, we must confront the troubling reality of its impact on global trade.
AFTINET submission to reviews of ISDS in agreements with Egypt and Eastern European countries
5-Mar-2026 AFTINET
The submission recommends that Bilateral Investment agreements with Hungary, Poland, Czechia, Lithuania and Romania should be terminated without sunset clauses, which preserve existing investor rights to sue after agreements are terminated.
Trump’s deal with Argentina marks a new low in Big Pharma-friendly trade
3-Mar-2026 Public Citizen
The US-Argentina deal represents a new low in using US trade policy to bully countries into adopting intellectual property rules that expand Big Pharma’s monopoly power at the expense of access to affordable medicines.
EU-Mercosur: provisional application, undemocratic precedent
27-Feb-2026 Friends of the Earth Europe
Over 170 civil society groups, farmers groups, environmental organisations urge the EU to respect democratic processes and refrain from applying the agreement before the European Parliament has exercised its right to vote on the deal.
New analysis of US-Indonesia trade deal in light of repealed tariffs
27-Feb-2026 Public Citizen
This so-called ‘deal’ is a one-sided neocolonial trap that locks Indonesia into binding, economy-wide concessions to benefit large U.S. corporate interests.
Honduran and international allies issue statement denouncing Honduras’ return to ICSID
26-Feb-2026 Terra Justa
Honduran and international civil society organizations that defend individual and collective human rights reject the new Honduran government’s decision to rejoin the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
The Indonesia-US Trade Agreement on Reciprocal Tariffs threatens Indonesia’s food and national sovereignty
24-Feb-2026 Serikat Petani Indonesia
Serikat Petani Indonesia (SPI) believes that the Indonesia-US ART has the potential to narrow the scope of national policy in protecting the agricultural and food sectors, has direct and fundamental implications for the direction of national agricultural policy, food sovereignty, and the livelihoods of small farmers, even threatening the sovereignty of the Indonesian state.
To diversify trade, ditch the ideological baggage
23-Feb-2026 The Hill Times
Canada’s trade diversification policy amounts to signing more old school free trade and investment deals as quickly, and with as little debate, as possible.
Susan George – acclaimed political scientist and TNI’s honorary president – has passed away at the age of 91
19-Feb-2026 TNI
No one has done more to shape, energise, and inspire TNI over the decades – she has been our inspiration, our honorary leader, our intellectual soul, and our beloved friend. We will never see her like again.
US eyes minerals in occupied Western Sahara
18-Feb-2026 WSRW
Seeking to position itself as a key supplier of strategic minerals for Western powers, Morocco has signed a new agreement with the United States that covers Western Sahara’s waters and the critical minerals harboured there.
India NZ FTA fails the Interim Tiriti o Waitangi assessment
16-Feb-2026 Scoop
Usually at this stage of a trade negotiation, Ngā Toki Whakarururanga would have prepared a Tiriti o Waitangi assessment of the recently concluded free trade agreement between India and New Zealand, based on having confidential access to the negotiating text.
India’s trade policy shift in the EU and US trade deals: Serious implications for Indian citizens and its development pathway
13-Feb-2026 Forum for Fair Trade
Serious concerns have been raised about both the lack of transparency in the negotiation process and the potential long-term consequences of the agreements.
The battle over seeds in Latin America: the legal siege and people’s response
13-Feb-2026 GRAIN
Corporate encroachment is increasingly disguised as legal protection. Under laws that allegedly safeguard seeds, doors are opened for their registration, certification, or privatisation.
Food is not a commodity: Mobilization in Bizkaia against EU-Mercosur free trade agreement
5-Feb-2026 La Via Campesina
A caravan of peasant farmers and ranchers with their tractors left from different parts of the province of Bizkaia in Bilbao (Spain) to Bilbao to express their rejection of the free trade policies being promoted by the European Union.
EU-Morocco Statement: autonomy without self-determination, law without lawfulness
5-Feb-2026 WSRW
A joint statement that came out of last week’s EU-Morocco Association Council asks readers to believe in a fiction: that an undefined autonomy plan imposed by an occupying power can satisfy the right to self-determination, and that respect for international law can coexist with the systematic ignoring of the EU’s own highest court.