Some of the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact demanded they be exempted from the proposed litigation rule involving corporation and state, according to a purported negotiation text released by anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.
It's not known whether such demands remain on the table as the text was dated Jan. 20 and chief negotiators have met twice since then. WikiLeaks published the text on Wednesday.
The rule in question concerns investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) clauses, which give a multinational company the right to sue a state for compensation if it believes its investment has been harmed by a government decision based on laws and rules.