This article is brought to you by EurActiv.

 

 

Last week, Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) could include Investor-State Dispute Settlement procedures which will not allow foreign investors to go to court in the US. Green Party observers have called the statement ‘astonishing’.

 

Alarm bells have rung for campaigners since last May when it emerged that a ‘fair and equitable treatment’ clause had been inserted into a draft of the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA), outlawing any “breach of legitimate expectations of investors”.

 

The EU’s wide-ranging REACH regulation, which provides the world’s most comprehensive health and environmental regulation of chemical substances, is already in the crosshairs of US industry.

 

Last week, the US Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates testified before the International Trade Commission “about the disproportionate economic impact trade barriers have on small and medium-sized US manufacturers (SMEs) exporting to the European Union,” according to one US newspaper.

 

 

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