Eyes on Trade | 12 August 2010
New Sierra Club / Public Citizen report on fixes to investment in the TPP
Earlier this week, the Sierra Club, Public Citizen, Institute for Policy Studies, Friends of the Earth and Earthjustice released a new report entitled: "Investment Rules in Trade Agreements: Top 10 Changes to Build a Pro-Labor, Pro-Community and Pro-Environment Trans-Pacific Partnership." You can get a copy right here.
This builds on some of the work done by the various organizations and the Model BIT Subcommittee. The core of the message is simple: trade deals can help lift living standards when public-interest rules aren't being undermined in the process. Obama can make this a reality if he ditches Bush's plans for the TPP, and instead uses the TPP to deliver on his fair-trade campaign promises.
The report also includes particularly detailed remedies to problems like:
- How do we ensure that foreign investors aren't given greater rights than domestic investors?
- How do we ensure that Chinese and German companies don't falsely claim nationality from other countries?
- How do we ensure that investors actually invest and create jobs before having access to special rights under the TPP?
- How can we safeguard financial transaction taxes from trade-pact challenge?
