In a letter to US Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer regarding ongoing NAFTA re-negotiations, Consumers Union, US PIRG, and CFA are calling on Lighthizer to maintain his stance on behalf of American sovereignty and American consumers by making Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) optional, and confining its use, even for a country who opts for it, to true instances of actual, physical government seizure and expropriation of property. There are reports of increasing pressures reportedly being exerted upon Lighthizer, by elements of the international business elite, to abandon or soften efforts to confine the availability of ISDS. While we seriously question the need for retaining ISDS in any form, Lighthizer’s proposal, as it has been reported, would go a long way toward eliminating the potential for ISDS to be abused.
