A bipartisan group of lawmakers is calling on the Biden administration’s trade representative, Katherine Tai, to stop what they have described as “secret negotiations” with foreign trading partners.

In a letter Wednesday led by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and signed by 18 of his Senate colleagues, the group accused Tai and the Biden administration of circumventing Congress and of not taking into account the appropriate contributions of business leaders. in his push to “press” changes to two of the main ones in the country free trade agreements with Mexico, Canada and Colombia.

The changes would serve to modify the interpretation of investor protection provisions for US companies included in the government’s trade agreements with those countries.

“Unfortunately, USTR is pursuing substantive changes to those passed by Congress trade agreements on an abbreviated schedule, out of public view and without meaningful consultation with Congress,” the senators’ letter stated. “Robust consultations with Congress and stakeholders are critical to ensuring that affected companies and their workers understand what is being proposed and how it may affect operations at home and abroad.”

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U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai speaks during a joint press conference with her Mexican counterparts in Dean Acheson Auditorium in the Harry S. Truman Building of the State Department on September 29, 2023 in Washington, d.c (Getty Images/Getty Images)

The negotiations taking place are tied to the interpretations of the investor protection provisions in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement.

Currently, US companies operating internationally can rely on third-party tribunals to mediate disputes over business practices with other countries. According to Reuters, current investor protections that allow third-party mediation in these trade deals have led to large damage claims against governments.

A group of nearly 40 Democrats al House of Representatives He said in a separate letter last month, led by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, that they were happy to hear reports about possible updates to investor protection sections, arguing that the process of using a third-party mediator it serves to give corporations too much power to interfere with legitimate government actions.

The letter called the action a “wise move,” arguing that investor protection mechanisms allow “foreign corporations” to weaponize international courts to circumvent a nation’s domestic policies and prioritize business interests at the expense of of workers, consumers, small businesses and companies in these countries. environment

U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas (Getty Images/Getty Images)

“We strongly encourage you to act urgently to eliminate or drastically reduce the ability of multinational corporations to use investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) tribunals as a tool to attack legitimate government actions and extract unlimited sums from the taxpayers of the countries on the laws and actions, or judicial decisions of sovereign nations that the corporations claim are in conflict with their special rights and privileges. the ISDS,” the letter said.

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In one op-ed for The Washington Times, Republican Senators Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Katie Britt of Alabama and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama raised an example of an American construction company, Vulcan Materials, which for decades built infrastructure to obtain limestone in the Yucatan. But he has recently faced a campaign by politicians in Mexico to seize his assets. The campaign came after the country’s government declared in September that the land Vulcano used to get its limestone was part of a protected nature reserve that belonged to Mexico.

Image of a Vulcan Materials Company limestone quarry in Tuscumbia, Ala. (Getty Images/Getty Images)

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Fox News Digital reached out to Tai’s office for comment, but did not hear back in time for publication.