In the declaration of the inaugural summit of the Alliance for Economic Prosperity of the Americas (APEP), convened by President Joe Biden last Friday in Washington, we find a call to “encourage private sector investments that meet environmental criteria, social and governance”. However, Biden has ignored calls from Congress and American social and civil organizations to dismantle the neoliberal supranational arbitration system, which paradoxically allows foreign investors to sue states, when they attempt to regulate in ways that that precisely these criteria are met (https://tinyurl.com/mvy6c2bm).

APEP is a diffuse attempt to revive the failed Free Trade Area of ​​the Americas (FTAA) with a select group of 12 countries that have or are seeking to enter into a free trade agreement with the United States; members of the Pacific Alliance – Mexico, Peru, Chile and Colombia – Canada, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Barbados, and those seeking an FTA – Uruguay, Ecuador –. APEP, like the FTAA, seeks to promote trade and investment among its members. It is a lukewarm response to the loss of US hegemony in the hemisphere in the face of China’s growing economic influence, as well as the latest attacks from the European Union with its call Global Gatewaywith which he seeks to secure the natural resources of our region.

Most of the leaders of the 12 APEP countries attended the summit, but for Mexico it was Foreign Affairs Secretary Alicia Bárcena Ibarra who rightly highlighted the importance of bringing together all the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in this forum (https://tinyurl. com/z45bj43y). But Mexico and other countries missed another opportunity to challenge the neocolonial instrument that transnational corporations use to sue our countries, usually before the World Bank’s ICSID, when regulations are proposed to achieve the mentioned criteria above: the investor-state arbitration mechanism (ISDS). , for its acronym in English), contained in free trade and investment agreements

According to a recent report, there are more than 73 cases of lawsuits filed by companies against APEP member countries (https://tinyurl.com/yckvcsdx) which claims a total of 47 billion dollars. Nearly a quarter of them include claims against Mexico, for at least the exorbitant amount of $11.361 million (own calculations based on ICSID information) (see https://acortar.link/d78VTT), a figure that could be higher. , since there is no data for other requests. It also includes $15 billion from the lawsuit filed by Canadian company TC Energy against the United States for canceling the Keystone Pipeline, in the face of opposition from communities and indigenous peoples due to imminent environmental impacts. . That’s one of the main reasons why Sen. Elizabeth Warren and 40 members of Congress sent a letter to the Biden administration in which they “urge it to pursue all options at its disposal – including new frameworks such as the Alliance for Economic Prosperity of the Americas. (APEP), which its agencies are leading to eliminate ISDS from existing U.S. trade agreements (https://tinyurl.com/4kefse2a)”. US Congress members say: “We are pleased that the Biden administration opposes ISDS and maintains its commitment not to include these provisions in future trade agreements. However, many of the current U.S. free trade agreements still contain ISDS provisions that foreign companies… continue to exploit.”

In addition, more than 200 US social and civil organizations sent Biden a letter urging him to withdraw from the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system contained in free trade and investment agreements between the United States and countries of the hemisphere. It was sponsored, among other organizations, by the AFL-CIO, the largest labor center in the country, and was signed by dozens of unions, human rights organizations, consumers, farmers, solidarity with Latin America, environmental organizations, etc.https://tinyurl.com/2jmb82fs) Cathy Feingold, international director of the AFL-CIO, said in a statement that “the ISDS prosecution mechanism creates an unfair playing field that prioritizes the needs of businesses over those of workers, their families and of the environment. ISDS must be removed from our trade framework and replaced with policies that promote good jobs, strong communities and a sustainable environment.

The US organizations’ letter draws, in large part, on decades-old demands from Latin American organizations to remove barriers to the right to regulate in favor of public welfare and the environment. Last May, more than 300 Colombian organizations and international allies signed a declaration calling on Gustavo Petro’s government to review and withdraw from treaties that grant similar powers to transnational corporations, particularly extractive ones (https://tinyurl.com/48pufc5t).

The APEP summit was a missed opportunity. Biden and the leaders of his 12 governments have had to respond to the demand to begin eliminating corporate lawsuit mechanisms (ISDS) in existing treaties in the hemisphere. AMLO, Petro and Boric should come together to free Latin America and the Caribbean from this neocolonial burden. We need to pay more attention to Brazil, which did not give up its sovereignty by signing these treaties, and less to the United States and Canada who are imposing them on us. There needs to be more integration through Celac and less attention to the mercantilist APEP.

*Researcher at the Institute for Policy Studies www.ips-dc.org