As the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, passes its final round of negotiations, the White House is going all out to portray the deal as a great gain for working people. US unions don’t agree, and they’ll be fighting the new generation trade deal between twelve countries around the…Read more…
Commission’s proposals for reforms to ISDS: new name, same danger
Last week EU Trade Commissioner Malmström announced proposals for a reformed version of the notorious Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions in TTIP. The new system of investment protection she described is called the ‘Investment Court System’, or ISD. Sounds similar to ISDS, doesn’t…Read more…
Millions say no to TTIP
Set to be one of the largest bilateral trade agreements every negotiated, TTIP – the mammoth EU-US deal currently being negotiated in secret – has also garnered mammoth media attention. The…Read more…
TiSA: threat to public services
Readers of Tribune will undoubtedly be aware of the transatlantic free trade agreement between the EU and the USA, known as TTIP. You may have heard about a similar agreement (which is all but signed…Read more…
Small gains, big pains
A newly issued briefing from the influential Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) has said that the potential gains from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would…Read more…
US says trade trumps safety
I have blogged here several times about the possible effects on health and safety of the proposed free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States – the Transatlantic Trade…Read more…
Trading names: transatlantic beef about cheese & drugs
The Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) being negotiated between the EU and the US keeps throwing up new things to argue about. One of the most arcane is the debate over ‘geographical indications’ (GIs) – names like Vidalia onions from the US or Armagh Bramley…Read more…
Global teacher unions oppose neo-liberal trade & investment agreements
At this week’s Education International (EI) World Congress in Canada, education unions around the globe voted to oppose the new wave of trade and investment agreements that are being negotiated…Read more…
What’s wrong with ISDS? Romania’s environment & history under attack
The latest example of what’s wrong with Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) – the privileged route to riches for foreign investors who can persuade a separate international court that they have been disadvantaged by a democratically-elected government – is a case being lodged…Read more…
ISDS: we won’t be fooled by a rebranding
Yesterday, Brussels was full of rumours that the European Commission had finally found a way to respond to the massive backlash generated by its proposal for a special court for US investors: a simple rebranding should do the trick. Currently known as …Read more…
ISDS-lite could yet scupper the EU-Canada trade deal
The TUC is no fan of the revised Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) process that EU Trade Commissioner Malmstrom has persuaded the European Parliament to back in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal between the EU and US…Read more…
European Parliament votes on TTIP: What next?
MEPs voted yesterday on an important report concerning the TTIP EU-US trade deal.Read more…
European Parliament view on EU-US trade deal
The European Parliament has finally voted on its resolution about the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership, or TTIP, the EU-US trade deal being negotiated by Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and US Trade Representative Mike Froman. Most of the news yesterday was about a compromise over…Read more…
Why investor protection matters so much in trade deals
The European Parliament will vote at last on Wednesday (unless the vote is postponed again, until the autumn) on the most toxic element of modern trade deals: investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). Like the rest of the European trade union movement, we’re calling on MEPs to exclude ISDS,…Read more…
Tolpuddle in Tuscany: talking Brexit & Grexit
Last night I was sat in a tent for a couple of hours on top of a hill in Tuscany, alongside the current and future Presidents of the European Trade Union Confederation (Ignacio Toxo from…Read more…
MEPs must listen to the people and vote down #ISDS compromise in #TTIP debate
Our MEPs look set at last to debate and vote later this week on the promised resolution on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal between the EU and USA. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is calling on MEPs to vote a…Read more…
Tell MEPs not to make a bad compromise on ISDS in TTIP
A last-minute European Parliament compromise deal poses a real risk MEPs settle for a damaging ISDS-lite plan.Read more…
#TTIP news: 10 reasons why the latest #ISDS compromise is a bad deal
Yesterday the Socialists & Democrats Group in the European Parliament voted 56-34 to endorse a compromise amendment to the Parliament’s draft resolution on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP, the EU-US trade deal), covering the controversial issue of Investor-State…Read more…
TTIP, CETA, TISA: We need to call time on zombie trade deals
Trade affects everyone’s lives. It affects the job you can get, the pay you receive and of course the goods you can buy. But trade policy and negotiations like those being conducted for TTIP, CETA and TiSA affect a lot more than that, and come with huge risks for our society. I’ll be speaking…Read more…
Kicking the trade agreements can down the road
Trade deals are stalled due to popular pressure In both the European Parliament and Congress. What’s going on? When the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations were launched in 2013, veteran Tory politician Ken Clarke MP was at his most avuncular when he said that…Read more…