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News from the movements

Overselling EU trade deals: new study uncovers failures of sustainability impact assessments
11-May-2022 Greenpeace
The European Commission uses flawed and tardy sustainability impact assessments as a fig leaf for environmentally, socially and economically damaging EU trade agreements, according to a new study.
How treaties protecting fossil fuel investors could jeopardize global efforts to save the climate – and cost countries billions
6-May-2022 The Conversation
We estimate that countries would face up to $340 billion in legal and financial risks for canceling fossil fuel projects that are subject to treaties with ISDS clauses.
Honduran government repeals ZEDEs law amid warnings of free trade agreement rights and arbitration
2-May-2022 Peace Brigades International Canada
The ZEDEs are free from import and export taxes, but could set up their own internal forms of government, as well as courts, security forces, schools and even social security systems.
Farmer union rep vows Indian people will resist FTAs
29-Apr-2022 bilaterals.org
Interview with Vijoo Krishnan, joint secretary of All India Kisan Sabha (or All India Peasants Union) regarding current India FTAs negotiations.
Policy brief on digital trade
15-Apr-2022 Seattle to Brussels Network
The “digital trade agenda” would see the ability of governments to regulate big tech in the public interest severely curtailed.
Climate change expert report warns that ISDS can block climate action
6-Apr-2022 AFTINET
For the first time, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that climate action is being jeopardised by trade agreements which give global corporations the right to sue governments.
Negotiations to begin on US Indo-Pacific trade pact, but more details needed
1-Apr-2022 AFTINET
It remains unclear as to whether the agreement will be legally binding, whether it will contain dispute resolution mechanisms, and whether it will be an ‘all in’ agreement or allow parties to choose what they sign up to.
‘Renewable’ energy in Tunisia: an unjust transition
1-Apr-2022 TNI
Following the principles set out in the ECT, the EU is seeking to deepen liberalization in order to standardize the Tunisian legislative framework through FTA negotiations.
The conflict between traditional miners in Marmato and Canadian transnational mining companies: Another ISDS dispute over natural resources in Colombia
31-Mar-2022 IISD
In Marmato, the foreign investment promotion and protection system facilitated the transformation of the traditional small-scale mining regime into a transnational large-scale mining regime.
The powers pushing for a planet-wrecking trade deal
28-Mar-2022 Friends of the Earth Europe
This report exposes the corporations most eagerly and successfully lobbying for the EU-Mercosur trade deal – a deal designed to increase profits at the expense of climate, biodiversity, health and indigenous rights.
Carlos Vicente: A “man-tree”
25-Mar-2022
GRAIN and bilaterals.org are heartbroken to announce the passing of our brother, comrade and colleague, Carlos Vicente.
Climate action needs investment governance, not investment protection and arbitration
17-Mar-2022 CCSI
Existing investment treaties do not and cannot advance climate goals.
Statement on the transnational consequences of the war in Ukraine on food insecurity in many African countries
16-Mar-2022 afrique-europe-interact
No to the free trade regime! Solidarity-based practice for a right to food sovereignty! Strengthen local, small-scale agriculture! Actively prevent hunger crises! WTO waiver 2.0!
AFTINET raises alarm on risk of UK companies suing the Australian Government through the CPTPP
7-Mar-2022 AFTINET
AFTINET has raised the alarm over the possibility that British corporations will gain the right to sue the Australian Government if the UK is granted membership in the CPTPP.
Riches for Australian miner equals misery for Thai villagers
4-Mar-2022 Michael West
The gold mine was closed by the Thai government, but an obscure clause in a “free trade” agreement has allowed the lucrative mine in Central Thailand to reopen.
10 days for submissions on UK FTA a total farce
4-Mar-2022 Scoop
People have only ten days to make submissions on the 1700-page secretly negotiated free trade agreement between New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Behind the ‘inclusive’ window dressing, the NZ-UK free trade deal disappoints politically and economically
4-Mar-2022 The Conversation
The free trade agreement between New Zealand and the United Kingdom demonstrates the intransigence of political leaders and their official advisers in the face of concerted demands to rethink the country’s trade policy paradigm.
Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) reform: Why it has failed to deliver on the EU’s own objectives
4-Mar-2022 Both Ends
From a climate perspective, the expected reform outcome is a failure. No Contracting Party will end investment protection for fossil fuels in a timeline that is necessary to align with the Paris Agreement.
Guatemalan water defenders celebrate 10 years of resistance
3-Mar-2022 Inequality.org
An attempted assassination, criminalization, and violent eviction in 2014 didn’t stop the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya in Guatemala, which won legal action suspending harmful mining activities.
Understanding the agricultural biotechnology provisions in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement
3-Mar-2022 IATP
While industry lobbyists succeeded in convincing trade negotiators to include agricultural biotechnology provisions in the USMCA, they now misstate the scope of the text that was agreed to by Canada, Mexico and the US.