Spotlight on investor-state panels in US Senate

"A special privilege for companies. No individual gets access to ISDS,” US trade union leader Richard Trumka told the Senate Finance Committee on 21 April. Urging Congress to resist the administration's plan to include investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in trade deals, the president of the biggest US trade union, AFL-CIO, warned that ISDS “will affect food safety, the environment, trade unions [...] this is a secret tribunal that you can't control”. The hearing's other witness, Chamber of Commerce President Tom…