Robert K. Stumberg
Professor of Law; Clinical Director, Harrison Institute for Public Law
B.A., Macalester; J.D., LL.M., Georgetown

Tuesday, November 11, 2003, 5:30-7pm

Hosted by our friend, the Honorable Sissy Farenthold
Lamar Tower Garden Room
2929 Buffalo Speedway, Houston, Texas
Suggested donation to TFTC: $25

Professor Stumberg is a national expert on economic development, sustainable agriculture and the impact of trade agreements on local democratic autonomy. He is the current Clinical Director of the Harrison Institute for Public Law, and former Director of the Center for Policy Alternatives in Washington, D.C

The Texas Fair Trade Coalition is hosting Professor Stumberg for a very brief trip to Texas to speak to community leaders and elected officials on the impact of international trade agreements on local democracies.

Building on the precedent set by NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), international trade agreements being negotiated today include expansive investor-to-state provisions that undermine democratic processes and supercede democratically enacted laws as they radically reconfigure the relationship between governments and corporations.

As laid out in Chapter 11 of NAFTA, these rules allow corporations to sue countries directly to overturn legitimate public interest laws and regulations when the corporations believe their actual or potential corporate profits have been undermined. Already, Chapter 11 has led to corporate assaults against health, safety and environmental laws, with one company demanding compensation close to $1 billion.

Amazingly, the Bush Administration is now in negotiations to expand this dangerous NAFTA investor provision to 31 more countries in the hemisphere, through the so-called Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) as well as through bilateral deals like the U.S.-Chile (which Congress passed last summer) or the proposed Central America Agreement (CAFTA), which is being negotiated in Houston this week.

Professor Stumberg will discuss the latest developments in investor-to-state provisions of World Trade Organization agreements, as well as other multi-lateral agreements, such as CAFTA and FTAA. He will also discuss what state and local governments can do to preserve their autonomy in this time of ever increasing economic globalization.

We hope you will join us for this one-time event!

For more information, contact Lesley Ramsey at (512) 472-1915, or email: Lesley@texasfairtrade.org

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