ISDS Case Map
NAFTA | USMCA
Right now hundreds of trade negotiators are preparing for battle over the details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. The text of that agreement is locked in a top-secret room in the basement of the Capitol and won't be released to the public until the deal is done.
The Central American country of El Salvador could be forced to pay US$301 million to Canadian-Australian mining multinational OceanaGold as the two face off in a World Bank investor-state tribunal with proven tendency to favor corporate interests over arguments for protecting national sovereignty, the environment, and human rights.
This report for US Congress answers frequently asked questions about US international investment agreements including provisions for investor-state dispute settlement.
Last week, Canadian Finance Minister Joe Oliver gave a speech in New York arguing that the Volcker Rule -- a key tenet of the US' 2010 banking law -- violates the North American Free Trade Agreement. This underscores Senator Warren's warning that such deals, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership that Obama is currently negotiating, jeopardize financial reform.
According to UNCTAD, 40% of all new ISDS cases in 2014 were initiated against developed countries (the historical average is 28%). A quarter of them are intra-EU disputes.
The European Union and Mexico will launch negotiations towards a new free-trade agreement later this year, as Europe seeks to tie its economy closer to North America following a deal with Canada and efforts to sign an accord with the United States.
Mexico is the clearest example of the consequences treaties could have on the economic, political and financial life of a nation and its society.
Food companies are infiltrating, inundating and taking over traditional food distribution channels and replacing local foods with cheap, processed junk foods. Free trade and investment agreements have been critical to their success.
After Mexico, the United States and Canada signed the FTA, in the agricultural sector alone five million workers lost their jobs in Mexico and they were forced to migrate.
A NAFTA arbitration panel has ruled against Canada in a claim by a US company that wanted to develop a quarry in Nova Scotia, although a dissenting member of the panel warned that the decision will be seen as a “remarkable step backwards” in environmental protection.
