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TPP

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP or TPP for short) is a trade and investment agreement that was signed on 7 March 2018 between 11 Pacific Rim countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The pact went into force on 30 December 2018 among the members who have ratified it. The US withdrew from it in January 2017.

The investment chapter includes investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions. Civil society groups have blasted the mechanism, as it gives a foreign investor or company disproportionate powers vis-à-vis governments or domestic companies. Foreign investors can resort to a parallel system of justice specifically made for them to challenge public health, the environment and other public-interest ‘safeguards’, and bypass national justice courts.

Photo: Blink O’Fanaye / CC BY-NC 2.0

(March 2020)

TPP deal not about trade, should be stopped
Guam PDN | 17-Nov-2014
The Trans-Pacific Partnership threatens workers’ rights in the 12 nations negotiating the deal, say Communications Workers of America
actions | resistance , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , labour | workers’ rights
Never mind ISIS, it’s ISDS that’s the real threat
The Nation | 12-Nov-2014
If a “high-standard” ISDS is included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the results could be catastrophic, especially for the environment and people fighting to protect the environment.
CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS
US floats cutting tobacco from part of Pacific trade pact -sources
Reuters | 22-Oct-2014
The United States has floated excluding tobacco products from a key section of a 12-nation Pacific trade deal and signaled it may present a formal proposal to trading partners at talks in Australia.
CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
Trans-Pacific Partnership piles up challenges for democracy
The Conversation | 21-Oct-2014
The US is again driving the TPP agenda on behalf of its major export industries, but the TPP proposals are more extreme than the Australia-US FTA, writes Pat Ranald.
Australia , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
Smoke screen: One industry carve-out won’t solve the problem of corporate courts
AFL-CIO | 15-Oct-2014
According to recent reports, US trade negotiators for the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal are floating a proposal to prevent tobacco companies from using corporate courts to sue national governments over anti-smoking regulations.
corporate interests , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS
Tobacco raises TPP concerns
Politico | 11-Oct-2014
US trade officials have denied they plan to offer a new tobacco proposal in the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks in Australia later this month.
corporate interests , CPTPP , health , investor-state disputes | ISDS
ISDS: The devil in the trade deal
ABC | 14-Sep-2014
A common provision allowing foreign investors to sue host governments has become a ticking time bomb inside trade agreements. Some countries are now refusing to agree to the provision and are questioning its legal legitimacy. Jess Hill investigates.
audio , Australia , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , TTIP
Eight reasons to purge investor-state dispute settlement from trade agreements
| 6-Mar-2014
For a variety of reasons, including poor management of public perceptions, the administration’s trade agenda is in trouble. Much of the public’s antipathy toward trade agreements can be boiled down to concerns about the so-called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provision. ISDS enables foreign investors to circumvent domestic legal processes and sue host governments in third-party arbitration tribunals for unfair or discriminatory treatment – described hyperbolically by those fanning the flames of opposition as “running roughshod over domestic laws, regulations, and sovereignty.”
corporate interests , CPTPP , investment | BITs , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
Assessing the exposure of Asian states to investment claims
SSRN | 20-Feb-2014
Although some IIAs have generated a few disputes for technical reasons, it is rather predictable that Asian states are currently entering an era in which foreign investors are likely to multiply claims.
Asia , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS
Trans-Pacific Partnership talks hit roadblock over anti-smoking policies
| 25-Aug-2013
Fast-moving trade talks aimed at reaching an ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal have hit a major snag over anti-smoking policies, as divisions emerged over a proposal critics say would expose governments to lawsuits from tobacco companies.
CPTPP , health , investor-state disputes | ISDS