Senators tell Admin Biden to stop 'confidential negotiations' with foreign business partners

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is calling on Biden Administration Trade Representative Catherine Tay to stop what they describe as “confidential negotiations” with foreign trading partners.

In a letter Wednesday led by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and signed by 18 of his Senate colleagues, the group accused Tye and the Biden administration of bypassing Congress and not paying enough attention to the views of business leaders. In his pressure to “rush” change to two of the largest countries Free trade agreements with Mexico, Canada and Colombia.

These changes are intended to modify the interpretation of investor protection provisions for US businesses that are included in the government's trade transactions with these countries.

“Unfortunately, USTR is pursuing major changes approved by Congress Commercial contracts The senators' letter emphasized a shortened timeline, out of public view and without meaningful congressional consultation. “Strong consultations with Congress and stakeholders are critical to ensure that affected companies and their employees understand what is being proposed and what it looks like. It may affect operations at home and abroad.”

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The ongoing negotiations relate to the interpretation of the investor protection provisions of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement.

Currently, US companies operating internationally can use third-party courts to mediate disputes over business practices with other countries. According to Reuters, current investor protections that allow third-party mediation in these trade agreements have resulted in large damages against governments.

A group of nearly 40 Democrats in House of Representatives In a separate letter last month, led by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, R-Texas, he said he was happy to hear reports of possible updates to investor protection sections, arguing that the process of using a third-party intermediary would help businesses. Excessive power to interfere with the legal actions of the government.

The letter called the move “unwise” and argued that investor protection mechanisms would allow “foreign companies” to use international courts to circumvent a country's domestic policies and prioritize commercial interests at the expense of workers, consumers, small businesses in those countries. to arm Environment

We strongly encourage you to act immediately to eliminate or greatly reduce the ability of multinational corporations to use investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) tribunals as a tool to attack government legal action and extract unlimited sums of money from taxpayers. Take action. , or court rulings of sovereign countries that companies claim conflict with their special ISDS rights. Privileges,” the letter said.

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in one op-ed For The Washington Times, Republican senators Bill Haggerty of Tennessee, Cathy Britt of Alabama and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama cited the example of a U.S. construction company called Vulcan Materials that had been building for decades. Infrastructure for producing limestone in the Yucatan. But recently it has faced a campaign by Mexican politicians to confiscate its properties. The campaign comes after the country's government announced in September that the land Vulcan uses for its limestone is part of a protected nature reserve owned by Mexico.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Tai's office for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.