‘Best ever’ trade and investment deal with Japan: is there a downside?

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(Image: Shinzo Abe, by CSIS: Center for Strategic & International Studies on Flickr)

Tony Abbott says he’s sealed a historic trade deal with Japan, but experts are divided on the question of the pact’s potential downsides for Australia. Concerns have been raised that the deal will allow Japanese investors to sue the Australian government over policies they don’t like. Other legal experts say that Japanese investors are unlikely to take on the Australian government in this way.

UPDATE: The deal announced after this story aired does not include this controversial Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism.

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