A good look at the problem with CAFTA

CAFTA, like NAFTA is all about who gets to write the rules.

"Unfortunately, with the proliferation of trade and investment agreements that hand foreign investors surprisingly broad rights, local governments are losing the power to protect their people, environment and economy. Investor protection clauses 'essentially restrict the ability of governments to impose public interest or environmental regulations on corporate operations,' says Keith Slack, an extractive industries expert for Oxfam America. And this hinders the very sort of development that would, in the long run, make poor countries not only better places for people to live, but far better places for American corporations to do business." A Toxic Trade-off