<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/33-democrats-urge-ban-investor-state-dispute-provisions-all-us-trade-deals-2023-05-03/" class="">https://www.reuters.com/business/33-democrats-urge-ban-investor-state-dispute-provisions-all-us-trade-deals-2023-05-03/</a><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><h1 data-testid="Heading" class="text__medium__1kbOh heading__base__2T28j text__text__1FZLe article-header__title__3Y2hh text__heading_3__1kDhc heading__heading_3__3aL54 text__dark-grey__3Ml43" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 48px; font-size: 40px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-medium, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 500; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);">33 Democrats urge ban on investor-state dispute provisions in all US trade deals</h1><div data-testid="Text" class="article-header__author__3PcB3 text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__text__1FZLe text__small__1kGq2 text__medium__1kbOh" style="margin: 16px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1; font-size: medium; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-medium, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);"><div class="author-name__author-tooltip-container__1EJpK" style="display: inline; position: relative; z-index: 0; cursor: pointer;">By <a href="https://www.reuters.com/authors/david-lawder/" rel="author" class="author-name__author__1gx5k" style="display: inline; color: inherit; text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.5;">David Lawder</a></div></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><p data-testid="paragraph-0" class="body__full_width__ekUdw text__text__1FZLe body__large_body__FV5_X text__large__nEccO text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr article-body__element__2p5pI" style="margin: 2.2222222222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 100%;">WASHINGTON, May 3 (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday urged the U.S. Trade Representative and State Department to eliminate investor-state dispute settlement provisions from current and future trade deals and to intervene on behalf of Honduras against a U.S. company's nearly $11 billion claim against the country.</p><p data-testid="paragraph-1" class="body__full_width__ekUdw text__text__1FZLe body__large_body__FV5_X text__large__nEccO text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr article-body__element__2p5pI" style="margin: 2.2222222222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 100%;">In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Trade Representative Katherine Tai seen by Reuters, 33 lawmakers said that investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) systems in trade deals constitute a "problematic corporate handout" that violates countries' sovereignty and democracy rights.</p></div><div class=""><p data-testid="paragraph-2" class="body__full_width__ekUdw text__text__1FZLe body__large_body__FV5_X text__large__nEccO text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr article-body__element__2p5pI" style="margin: 2.2222222222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 100%;">The letter, led by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Democratic Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas, cited the "jaw-dropping sum" sought by U.S. investment company Honduras Prospera Inc last December as its central argument.</p><p data-testid="paragraph-3" class="body__full_width__ekUdw text__text__1FZLe body__large_body__FV5_X text__large__nEccO text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr article-body__element__2p5pI" style="margin: 2.2222222222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 100%;">The company runs a special economic zone largely on the resort island of Roatan, with administrative and fiscal autonomy, but Honduras' Congress last year <a data-testid="Link" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/honduran-congress-unanimously-nixes-special-economic-zones-2022-04-21/" class="link__underline_default__2prE_ text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__text__1FZLe text__large__nEccO text__medium__1kbOh" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1; letter-spacing: 0px; font-size: 18px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-medium, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);">repealed the law</a> that allowed such zones under leftist president Xiomara Castro.</p><p data-testid="paragraph-4" class="body__full_width__ekUdw text__text__1FZLe body__large_body__FV5_X text__large__nEccO text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr article-body__element__2p5pI" style="margin: 2.2222222222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 100%;">Prospera <a data-testid="Link" href="https://prospera.hn/news/press-releases/10-775-billion-claim-filed-against-government-of-honduras" target="_blank" class="link__underline_default__2prE_ text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__text__1FZLe text__large__nEccO text__medium__1kbOh" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1; letter-spacing: 0px; font-size: 18px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-medium, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);">claims</a> that the repeal violates the terms of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) with the United States and is claiming compensation of "at least several billion U.S. dollars and as high as $10.775 billion" for impairment of its investment.</p></div><div class=""><p data-testid="paragraph-5" class="body__full_width__ekUdw text__text__1FZLe body__large_body__FV5_X text__large__nEccO text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr article-body__element__2p5pI" style="margin: 2.2222222222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 100%;">The Democrats signing the letter said the case could require impoverished Honduras to pay billions of taxpayer dollars to a company that has "weaponized" the dispute settlement provisions.</p><p data-testid="paragraph-6" class="body__full_width__ekUdw text__text__1FZLe body__large_body__FV5_X text__large__nEccO text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr article-body__element__2p5pI" style="margin: 2.2222222222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 100%;">"We request that you intervene - through a statement of support, amicus brief, and any other means at your disposal - in support of Honduras' defense in the Prospera ISDS case and to ensure such egregious cases can no longer disrupt democratic policy making by working to eliminate ISDS liability in pre-existing agreements in our hemisphere," the lawmakers wrote to Tai and Blinken.</p><p data-testid="paragraph-7" class="body__full_width__ekUdw text__text__1FZLe body__large_body__FV5_X text__large__nEccO text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr article-body__element__2p5pI" style="margin: 2.2222222222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 100%;">The dispute settlement provisions had been a way to protect U.S. firms from abrupt changes in trading partners' government policies by providing recourse through arbitration.</p><p data-testid="paragraph-8" class="body__full_width__ekUdw text__text__1FZLe body__large_body__FV5_X text__large__nEccO text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr article-body__element__2p5pI" style="margin: 2.2222222222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 100%;">In the North American Free Trade deal, the legal protections came to be viewed as a de-facto subsidy for U.S. firms investing in Mexico, and much of the ISDS system was eliminated in NAFTA's successor, U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, launched in 2020.</p></div><div class=""><p data-testid="paragraph-9" class="body__full_width__ekUdw text__text__1FZLe body__large_body__FV5_X text__large__nEccO text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr article-body__element__2p5pI" style="margin: 2.2222222222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 100%;">The letter cited Georgetown University <a data-testid="Link" href="https://isdslac.georgetown.edu/" target="_blank" class="link__underline_default__2prE_ text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__text__1FZLe text__large__nEccO text__medium__1kbOh" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1; letter-spacing: 0px; font-size: 18px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-medium, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);">research</a> tallying $27.8 billion in ISDS settlement orders against Latin American governments, with Argentina, Venezuela, Peru, Mexico and Ecuador the worst hit.</p><p data-testid="paragraph-10" class="body__full_width__ekUdw text__text__1FZLe body__large_body__FV5_X text__large__nEccO text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr article-body__element__2p5pI" style="margin: 2.2222222222vw 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; font-size: 20px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); max-width: 100%;">"The broken ISDS system has time and time again worked in favor of big business interests while infringing on the rights and sovereignty of our trading partners and their people," the lawmakers wrote.</p><div class="article-body__element__2p5pI" style="margin: 2.2222222222vw 0px; font-family: -webkit-standard;"><span data-testid="Text" class="sign-off__text__PU3Aj text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__text__1FZLe text__default__UPMUu text__regular__2N1Xr" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: 0px; font-size: 16px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(64, 64, 64);">Reporting by David Lawder. Editing by Gerry Doyle</span></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div class="">
Arthur Stamoulis<br class="">Citizens Trade Campaign<br class="">(202) 494-8826<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">
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