Will Corporate States Replace Nation States?

Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) is a provision included in several free trade agreements including the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It covers any country participating in a trade deal, like the 12 nations now negotiating TPP. It gives foreign corporations the right to challenge any government laws or regulations that could affect a corporation’s “expected future profits.”

That’s how the French firm Veolia can challenge an increase in the minimum wage in Egypt. Or how Vattenfall can sue Germany for ending nuclear energy and therefore limiting potential profit from this nuclear manufacturer.

Corporations take these challenges to private United Nations or World Bank tribunals. There, a select group of “arbitrators” who know all the players hear the case and make their decision, no matter what elected representatives or the government or the people want. ISDS gives corporations the right to directly sue national governments for cash awards to enforce the special investor protections contained in a trade agreement.

Currently, there are more than $15 billion in claims pending, filed by corporations against national governments using provisions just like those in TPP.

Citizens across the U.S. and everywhere else strongly oppose handing off our national sovereignty to the corporate world. We’re fighting back.