IFPTE and Over 225 Organizations Ask Biden Administration to Remove Extreme Pro-Corporate Provisions from Existing Trade Agreements
IFPTE joined other unions and consumer, health, human rights, and faith organizations in a letter today to President Biden supporting his stated position against Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) and urging him to eliminate ISDS terms in existing free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties. The letter was sent ahead of the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (APEP) summit, hosted by President Biden.
ISDS is a binding legal process embedded in trade agreements that gives corporations and individual investors the right to sue host countries and governments over laws, regulations, and court decisions that may affect the corporation’s or investor’s current or future profits. Numerous free trade agreements that the U.S. is party to include ISDS, giving corporations the ability to go to ISDS tribunals to undermine environmental protections, financial regulations, consumer protections, and national sovereignty.
The letter, led by Public Citizen, applauds the Biden Administration for not engaging in any new free trade agreements and refusing to support any new ISDS provisions. The signatories go on to urge the Administration to “explore all avenues at your disposal and pursue an effective path to exiting ISDS by the U.S. and our partners in existing bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements.”