International trade
As the battle over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) lumbers on, critics of the agreement warn that it will empower foreign courts to overrule American health, safety, labor, and environmental laws on behalf of lawsuits brought by multi-national corporations.
President Obama and proponents of the TPP have dismissed this claim as blown out of proportion. But a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling from mid-April shows that this is far from a chimeric threat. The WTO ruled that U.S. dolphin-safe canned tuna labels were discriminating against Mexico, because these American rules disqualify current Mexican tuna from having dolphin-safe labels.
As China enters the market for nuclear power plant construction in post-sanctions Iran, Moscow is racing across the Middle East to develop new export markets for Russian nuclear technology. On July 22, the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announcedthat Beijing and Tehran have agreed to China’s construction of two nuclear power plants on Iran’s southern coast. 