NZ PM on Investor-State in TPP: Don't Count on It

Today's edition of Inside U.S. Trade (subscription only) reports that the Prime Minister of New Zealand, one of the negotiating parties of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), stated that a NAFTA-style investor-state lawsuit provision will likely be excluded from the TPP:

In a Nov. 15 press conference, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said it was a "far-fetched" idea that a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement would contain an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism, according to a video of that New Zealand press conference posted on the prime minister's website.

The Prime Minister's statements add greater momentum to the effort to exclude investor-state enforcement provisions from the TPP. Another TPP negotiating partner - Australia - today breathes easier because its "free trade" agreement with the United States excluded investor-state enforcement.

Dozens of multinational corporations have used the investor-state mechanism of NAFTA to attack environmental and public interest laws in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Right now, El Salvador is trying to fight off two multi-million dollar suits brought by gold mining corporations that target crucial mining environmental laws.  It's no wonder that the Prime Minister of New Zealand doesn't want to subject his country to the same types of foreign investor challenges.