Waters, House Dems Caution TTIP Financial Harmonization, Oppose Investor-State
The Obama administration’s resistance to the harmonization of financial regulations in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership best serves the American people by preserving the U.S. ability to safeguard the country from financial instability, said four House Democrats, including Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., on Dec. 1 (here). The lawmakers said in the letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew that the administration must avoid damaging financial service market access and capital control agreements in TTIP.
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Waters and her three colleagues also pushed back against inclusion of an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism. “Past U.S. trade pacts have explicitly included ‘futures, options, and other derivatives’ in the definition of ‘investments’ for which foreign investors are guaranteed special rights, including a guaranteed minimum standard of treatment and compensation for ‘regulatory takings,’” said the letter. “Private foreign investors should not be empowered to circumvent U.S. courts, go before extrajudicial tribunals and demand compensation from U.S. taxpayers because they do not like U.S. domestic financial regulatory policies with which all firms operating here must comply.” The dispute mechanism is a controversial issue in TTIP. The U.S. is pushing hard for its inclusion, while European officials concede it may not be part of a final agreement (see 14093025).