Action, Economy, Environment, Globalization

The secret corporate takeover of trade agreements

THE GUARDIAN
by Joseph Stiglitz

Rural workers in a potato field in Villapinzon, Colombia. Increasingly, free-trade agreements meant to protect countries are leaving them at the mercy of rich and litigious corporations. Photograph: Fernando Vergara/AP
Rural workers in a potato field in Villapinzon, Colombia. Increasingly, free-trade agreements meant to protect countries are leaving them at the mercy of rich and litigious corporations. Photograph: Fernando Vergara/AP

The US and the world are engaged in a great debate about new trade agreements. Such pacts used to be called free-trade agreements; in fact, they were managed trade agreements, tailored to corporate interests, largely in the US and the EU. Today, such deals are more often referred to as partnerships, as in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But they are not partnerships of equals: the US effectively dictates the terms. Fortunately, America’s “partners” are becoming increasingly resistant.

It is not hard to see why. These agreements go well beyond trade, governing investment and intellectual property as well, imposing fundamental changes to countries’ legal, judicial, and regulatory frameworks, without input or accountability through democratic institutions.

Perhaps the most invidious – and most dishonest – part of such agreements concerns investor protection. Of course, investors have to be protected against rogue governments seizing their property. But… More…