Hi John,
Weāve got some good news: corporate courts have been dropped from the Australia trade deal!
Three weeks ago, the UK government confirmed in parliament that corporate courts, formally known as ISDS, were a live negotiation issue in the deal. As I said when I emailed you about this, our fear was that they were trying to do this under the radar, without anyone noticing. We hoped that if we drew attention to it, kicking up a fuss, the government might be forced to climb down. And in fact that is what has happened.
Yesterday the trade minister, Liz Truss, told parliament that āISDS is not part of our trade agreement with Australiaā. Thatās a big change in three weeks, and the thousands of us who wrote to our MPs, along with allies in Australia who also took action, have helped make that happen. We made a real difference!
Can you help spread the word by sharing this graphic?
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If you don't use social media, you can forward this email to your friends.
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The deal was signed, as we had feared, in a photo op following the G7 summit. It was only a signing āin principleā however. Much of the detail is still to be worked out.
Itās not all good, unfortunately - sadly it rarely is! On corporate courts, we will be keeping our eyes on this. We want to make sure they donāt try and get away with saying that āISDSā isnāt in it, but then it turns out that something very similar is included - just with a different name. And we already knew we were facing a double risk, because the UK is also trying to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) which includes Australia and already has corporate courts in it (though itās possible for countries to agree it wonāt apply to them, as Australia and New Zealand have).
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There are also many other concerns with the deal. That includes risks around farming, animal welfare, pesticides standards and food standards. It also poses further danger for the climate. You can read more in this article and blog (both written before the announcement about ISDS):Ā
But for today, we can celebrate that together we helped get corporate courts dropped from the UKās first new trade deal. Thatās something to be proud of!
Many thanks,
Jean Blaylock
Trade campaigner at Global Justice Now
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