EU court finds member states must ratify trade deals with investor protections

The European Court of Justice on May 16 issued its long-anticipated ruling in its review of the EU-Singapore free trade agreement, finding that the deal -- as well as subsequent EU-negotiated agreements that contain investor protections -- must be approved by a consensus of member state national parliaments. The finding by the EU's highest court means that a future U.S.-EU free trade agreement likely would require the approval of all member state national parliaments. Investor protections were part of the...