The Case That Blew the Lid Off the World Bank’s Secret Courts

Two global trade pacts stand on the verge of completion, but popular resistance to secret courts empowered in these pacts may derail them.
The Case That Blew the Lid Off the World Bank’s Secret Courts
Demonstrators protest a planned hike in water rates on April 10, 2000 in Cochabamba, Bolivia. These protests helped raise global awareness of the international tribunals that some trade pacts allow corporations to bring suit in. Gonzalo Espinoza/AFP/Getty Images
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COCHAABAMBA, Bolivia—There’s an international awakening afoot about a radical expansion of corporate power—one that sits at the center of two historic global trade deals nearing completion.

One focuses the United States toward Europe—that’s the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)—and the other toward Asia, in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Both would establish broad new rights for foreign corporations to sue governments for vast sums whenever nations change their public policies in ways that could potentially impact corporate profits.

Giving foreign corporations special rights to challenge our laws outside of our legal system would be a bad deal.
Elizabeth Warren, senator
Jim Shultz
Jim Shultz
Author
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