Regarding the letter, “TPP strengthens tobacco laws”: Like so many others, the writer has been deceived because she isn’t a lawyer specializing in trade agreements, and has been easily misled into believing that the TPP strengthens tobacco laws.
George Kahale III is chairman of the world’s leading legal arbitration firm — Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt &Mosle LLP — his core business is to defend governments being sued by foreign investors under the Investor State Dispute Settlement.
Kahale points to a “most favored nation” clause tucked away in Article 9.15 of the TPP, that would “enable foreign corporations from TPP states to make a claim against a government based on the ISDS provisions in any other trade deal the government has signed, no matter which country it was signed with. That means it does not matter how carefully the TPP is drafted: foreign investors can cherry pick another treaty the government has signed, and sue based on the provisions included in that treaty.”
A handy loophole for tobacco to walk right through. The TPP is over 5,000 pages, written for the most part with the blessing of corporate lobbyists; loopholes and land mines abound.
Trusting citizens beware.
Vandana Whitney
Bothell
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