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United Nations: International investment disputes on the rise

Posted: 2013-04-23 | Janet Eaton

TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Apr13/05), 23 April 2013, Third World Network, www.twn.myDear friends and colleagues,Please find below a report by the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS) dated 17 April, 2013, shedding light on important findings by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) over the rise of international investment disputes.In its report entitled "Recent Developments in Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS)", UNCTAD said it found that the total number of known treaty-based Investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) cases rose to 518 by the end of 2012. Since most arbitration forums do not maintain a public registry of claims, the total number of cases is likely to be higher. In particular, 2012 saw:

62 new ISDS cases initiated, the highest number of known treaty-based cases ever filed in one year under international investment agreements (IIAs);
68% (42 out of 62) of the...

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Free Trade: Trudeau, Harper, Mulcair buy into free-trade theory that doesn’t work: Walkom

Posted: 2013-04-20 | Janet Eaton

By Thomas Walkom National Affairs, Published on Fri Apr 19 2013Free trade is now orthodoxy in Canada. It used to be debated fiercely. It no longer is. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives embrace free trade. So does Justin Trudeau, the new Liberal leader.As part of their ongoing effort to pretend that they are not New Democrats, so do Tom Mulcair’s New Democrats.Ironically, all of this has occurred at precisely the time when events demonstrate that free trade deals don’t work as advertised. The latest evidence, reported Thursday, comes from a survey of the North American auto industry by DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. It found that while the auto sector itself is bouncing back from recession, Canada’s share of investment, production and jobs in that sector is declining. The reason is straightforward. American states, particularly in the South, are paying the big car companies to locate there. All of this occurs in spite of...

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Trans-Atlantic free-trade tango

Posted: 2013-04-18 | Janet Eaton

Deutsche Welle 13.04.2013

After years spent cautiously eyeing each other across the Atlantic, the European Union and the United States appear ready to improve their trade ties. But, a first meeting has revealed how difficult that may be.

Two months after US President Barack Obama announced his intentions to work toward an American free-trade agreement with the European Union, a first session of preliminary talks has taken place. Official negotiations have yet to get underway, and like previous attempts at this ambitious goal, the devil is in the details.

Six years ago, the devil had wings and took the form of a chicken doused in chlorine. That practice (used for disinfecting chickens in the US) was one of the stumbling blocks in negotiations between the EU and the United States on a trans-Atlantic trade agreement - a plan that was strongly lobbied against by agricultural interests at the time.

Today, similar sticking points need to be addressed before the...

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TPP) U.S. trade barrier hit list shows what's at stake for Canada in Trans-Pacific Partnership

Posted: 2013-04-18 | Janet Eaton

By Stuart Trew

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released its annual list of global trade barriers -- policies in countries from Angola to Vietnam it wants changed or eliminated so U.S. firms can make more money. You can read the whole report here. Or you can take a look at Public Citizen's very useful summary, which focuses on the 10 non-U.S. countries, including Canada, negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, right here.

According to the government and corporate watchdog, "The 406-page USTR report indicts a wide array of public health policies, financial regulations, politically sensitive manufacturing and...

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Beginners Guide to Trade

Posted: 2013-04-17 | Janet Eaton

Seattle to Brussels Network (S2B),1 February 2013,Cecilia Olivet,Pietje Vervest et al.

This beginners' guide provides a critical perspective on EU’s trade and investment policies and the business interests they serve. TNI worked on the guide with a Europe-wide network of trade activists, belonging to the Seattle to Brussels network.

application/pdf iconBeginners Guide to Trade (PDF 631.73KB)

http://www.tni.org/briefing/beginners-guide-trade-0?context=70931

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