FROM PUBLIC CITIZENS GLOBAL TRADE WATCH THIS WEEK: U.S. and European Union negotiators are meeting near Washington, D.C., this week behind closed doors to discuss a proposed Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA). This proposed deal, launched last May, is not as far along as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But we already know from leaks of secret texts that, like the TPP, TAFTA threatens to undo hard-earned consumer safeguards. Indeed, it takes direct aim at the best standards in Europe and America. That means Europe’s food safety and GMO labeling rules, consumer privacy protections and regulations on hazardous chemicals, and U.S financial protections designed to prevent another financial crisis. Copy and paste this link to go to the Public Citizen site and email your member of Congress today: action.citizen.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=12596 Perhaps the worst part of TAFTA is that it is slated to include investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). That’s the extreme mechanism that allows corporations to challenge critical public interest policies by suing governments in extrajudicial foreign tribunals authorized to order unlimited taxpayer compensation for violations of broad investor “rights.” ISDS penalizes governments when they attempt to do the right thing, incentivizing them to avoid enacting public interest safeguards in the first place for fear of being sued for millions or even billions of dollars. This infuriating mechanism already exists under some so-called “free trade” agreements, including TAFTA’s namesake, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). If included in TAFTA, the expanded ISDS system would empower more than 71,000 additional corporations to attack domestic policies on both sides of the Atlantic. Enough is enough. Tell your representative you will not stand for another corporate attack via “trade” agreement. And that is just what TAFTA is shaping up to be. Some of the largest U.S. and EU corporations have actually listed which environmental, food safety and other consumer safeguards they want rolled back in the negotiations. And what’s more, some in Congress are angling to ram the TAFTA and TPP through Congress by sneaking in a Fast Track vote during the lame-duck session after the upcoming elections. Fast Track is an extreme, Nixon-era maneuver that gives Congress’ constitutional authority over trade to the president, allowing him to sign a trade deal before Congress votes on it and then railroad the deal through Congress in 90 days with limited debate and no amendments. But we can stop this from happening. Say “no” to corporate courts, “no” to ISDS and “no” to Fast Tracking TAFTA!
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 06:28:23 +0000
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