1/CORPORATIONS ARE BEING ENABLED TO LOOT GOVERNMENTS

A rigged system of proliferating trade treaties and agreements written by transnational corporations outside of international law is enabling them to loot governments.

@KamalaHarris
@JoeBiden https://inequality.org/research/biden-ustr-investor-state-dispute-settlement/

2/The proliferation of some 3,000 international trade treaties give corporations the right to sue governments for $ hundreds of millions or even $ billions for regulations that protect citizens, that the corporations claim reduce their expected profits.

@KamalaHarris
@JoeBiden

3/Through an “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS) system, corporations are able to bypass the domestic courts of countries and bring demands for payment directly to closed-door supranational arbitration tribunals.

@KamalaHarris
@JoeBiden

4/The demands are truly staggering. A Brazilian construction company is suing Peru for more than $1.2 billion. A US telecom company is suing Mexico under NAFTA for $2 billion. An Italian construction company is suing Panama for $2.2 billion.

@KamalaHarris
@JoeBiden

5/The astronomical claims tend to be grossly exaggerated and may appear to be manufactured out of thin air, but that doesn’t stop them from being taken seriously by arbitral tribunals ... and even worse, bad law is being made on basic liability issues.

@KamalaHarris
@JoeBiden

6/Developing countries -- which are more politically vulnerable and can least afford it -- are at greater risk from this latest mastermind "get-rich-quick" scheme dreamed up by corporations, their wealthy owners, accountants and lawyers.

@KamalaHarris
@JoeBiden

7/Hurricane-battered Guatemala had to pay $37.4 million to a subsidiary of US-based Teco Energy. Pakistan got hit with an award in favor of an Australian mining company for $6 billion.

@KamalaHarris
@JoeBiden

8/The Mexican government, which is trying to control its power supply during the outbreak, is being threatened with demands by businesses in the European Union and Canada that want access to its energy markets.

@KamalaHarris
@JoeBiden

9/Among the cases that could arise against governments are those from actions restricting business activities to limit the spread of the virus; or ensuring medicines, tests, and vaccines are affordable to citizens; and many, many others.

@KamalaHarris
@JoeBiden

10/Corporations have filed approximately 1,064 treaty-based cases and additional numbers of contract-based cases. Because of lack of transparency, no one knows exactly how much governments have had to pay out already.

@KamalaHarris
@JoeBiden

11/Companies of the environmentally destructive oil, gas, and mining industries have made the most demands. The Institute for Policy Studies estimates that governments have been ordered to pay at least $72.4 billion in oil, gas, and mining cases.

12/In addition, governments, most of which are not rich, are being sued for $75 billion in 73 known pending oil, gas and mining cases. Goverments trying to serve their citizenry and protect their environments should not be burdened by this extortion.

@KamalaHarris
@JoeBiden

13/We must stop corporations from considering the wealth of nations to be their personal piggy banks. Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris and our Congressional Trade Lawyer Katherine Tai must join other nations to dismantle this disastrous trade agreement/ISDS racket.

@KamalaHarris
@JoeBiden