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Trade and investments

Article as analysis

Investment protection: A collapsing system

States sign investment protection agreements among themselves, multinational corporations can sue if they are violated. This is becoming ever more frequent. But more and more States are reacting by terminating those agreements.

Article as analysis

Investing responsibly in Iran – is this possible?

Enterprises must respect human rights, including when investing abroad. What should Switzerland's role be in opening up Iran, the investor El Dorado?

Article as analysis

Yes to globalization – but with fairness!

Donald Trump's election as US President is the culmination of a trend whereby ever more people in industrialized countries regard globalization has misguided. Does this signal victory for the progressive "anti-globalization movement"? An analysis.

Article as analysis

TISA: Negotiations at a standstill

Even if the TISA negotiations were to be continued in 2017, they are still fraught with problems, especially regarding the liberalization of public services.

Political article

Switzerland and TISA: the official position

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) has replied to our opinion, published in Le Temps on December 6th. We publish it here, with the counter-reply and the arguments of its author, Isolda Agazzi.

Article as analysis

Philip Morris vs Uruguay: only a partial victory

Uruguay has won the year-long lawsuit concerning its anti-smoking policy against Philip Morris. The ruling might have been completely different, however.

Investment protection: Philip Morris vs Uruguay

In 2010, Philip Morris filed a complaint against Uruguay over its anti-tobacco legislation. The tobacco giant sued for US$25 million in compensation. On 8 July 2016, Uruguay received a favourable award. Why this lawsuit should never have existed.

Doha Round: a laborious and threatened harvest

Launched by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, the Doha Round is now deadlocked. Hardly any headway has been made in 15 years. Despite this, Alliance Sud favours the multilateral path over bilateral or regional free trade agreements.

Political article

WTO Conference: Crumbs for the South

The WTO Ministerial Conference held in December 2015 in Nairobi has acknowledged the division among Members over the Doha Round as well as "new issues".