Nice regulatory structure, if you can get one

Among the other concerns with the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty, now before the Senate for an up/down vote, is that it turns any attempt to regulate the finance industry in a way that arguably reduces its profits into a law suit at an international tribunal.

'The TPP, a 12-nation pact with countries in Asia and the Americas that requires congressional approval, includes an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system. This allows foreign companies operating in TPP member countries to enforce the agreement without using that country’s court system. Instead, corporations can sue for monetary damages in independent tribunals before corporate lawyers who can rotate between advocating for investors and judging the cases themselves.'

While the laws of member states — such as the US — cannot be directly overridden, the tribunals can impose punitive tariffs on countries who are impacting the earnings expectations of financial stockholders.

Similar provisions for other sorts of companies have been included in previous free trade agreements — including the North American and the Central American ones — and have been abused in just the same way. TPP is the first to add banks and investment firms to the mix.

TPP Trade Pact Would Give Wall Street a Trump Card to Block Regulations
Former Citibank executive Michael Froman, the U.S. trade representative, negotiated a pact that will give Citi and other banks a shot to undermine future financial reforms.

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