This article by the Huffington Post appeared to be relevant to our recent class discussions on trade. It also appeared to be useful because it broadened my knowledge of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP.) There are many parts to the TPP, but one of the main parts that many critics want excluded from the trade deal, is what they are calling “the secret court system” known as the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS.) The issues within this type of court system is that if a government of a foreign country implements regulations that violates the trade agreement or discriminates the company, the company then can go through this system and appeal to an arbitrary panel, which is made up of three corporate lawyers, and be essentially reimbursed for future company profits. The problem with this type of system, is that it could tie up the hands of foreign governments when they are trying to put in safety or environmental regulations because these companies could claim them to be violations or discrimination resulting in possible huge economic losses for the country and its people and a huge profit for top investors.
This article seemed to tie into our class discussions first because it had to do with trade, but mostly because it outlined one of the reasons trade and trade agreements makes people nervous. From this article, it appears a lot of people might be in favor of the TPP, but when there are certain provisions, such as this one with the ISDS, it makes the deal seem a little political and corporate favored. This opens up the door for corporations to monopolize power and hurt the economy and middle class/lower class citizens within the foreign nation. It also could monopolize power within the stronger nations and their investors and hurt the less powerful nations and their investors too.
