The release today of a confidential document from ongoing US
trade negotiations with eight Pacific nations -- known as the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) -- reveals that provisions included in
the trade agreement would drastically undermine Obama's proposed
domestic agenda and give unprecented political authority to
multinational corporations.
President Barack Obama during a meeting of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, November 2011. (Photo: Larry Downing/Reuters)
The TPP negotiations have gone on for two years between
the Obama administration and several Pacific nations under conditions of
'extreme secrecy' without press, public or policymaker oversight, says
Public Citizen who posted the
leaked document on their website today.
“The top U.S. trade official effectively has said that the
administration must keep TPP secret because otherwise it won’t be able
to shove this deal past the public and Congress,” said Lori Wallach,
director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.
“The top U.S. trade official effectively has
said that the administration must keep TPP secret because otherwise it
won’t be able to shove this deal past the public and Congress,” --Lori
Wallach, Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch
The leaked document, according to the
Huffington Post,
reveals 'extreme provisions' that have been agreed upon in secret
negotiations that "bestow radical new political powers upon
multinational corporations" in global trade and contradict key promises
made to the US public about such deals.
According to
Public Citizen, the leaked text now confirms that the terms of the TPP would:
- Limit how U.S. federal and state officials could regulate foreign
firms operating within U.S. boundaries, with requirements to provide
them greater rights than domestic firms;
- Extend the incentives for U.S. firms to offshore investment and jobs to lower-wage countries;
- Establish a two-track legal system that gives foreign firms new
rights to skirt U.S. courts and laws, directly sue the U.S. government
before foreign tribunals and demand compensation for financial, health,
environmental, land use and other laws they claim undermine their TPP
privileges; and
- Allow foreign firms to demand compensation for the costs of
complying with U.S. financial or environmental regulations that apply
equally to domestic and foreign firms.
“The airing of this one TPP chapter," said Wallach, "which greatly
favors foreign corporations over domestic businesses and the public
interest and exposes us to significant financial liabilities, shows that
the whole draft text must be released immediately so it can be reviewed
and debated. Absent that, these negotiations must be ended now.”
* * *
Public Citizen:
Controversial Trade Pact Text Leaked, Shows U.S. Trade Officials Have Agreed to Terms That Undermine Obama Domestic Agenda
A leak today of one of the most controversial chapters of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) reveals that extreme provisions have
been agreed to by U.S. officials, providing a stark warning about the
dangers of “trade” negotiations occurring under conditions of extreme
secrecy without press, public or policymaker oversight, Public Citizen
said.
“The outrageous stuff in this leaked text may well be why U.S. trade
officials have been so extremely secretive about these past two years of
TPP negotiations,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s
Global Trade Watch. “Via closed-door negotiations, U.S. officials are
rewriting swaths of U.S. law that have nothing to do with trade and in a
move that will infuriate left and right alike have agreed to submit the
U.S. government to the jurisdiction of foreign tribunals that can order
unlimited payments of our tax dollars to foreign corporations that
don’t want to comply with the same laws our domestic firms do.” [...]
“US officials are rewriting swaths of US law
that have nothing to do with trade and in a move that will infuriate
left and right alike have agreed to submit the US government to the
jurisdiction of foreign tribunals”
While 600 official U.S. corporate advisers have access to TPP texts
and have a special role in advising U.S. negotiators, for the public,
press and policymakers, this leak provides the first access to one of
the prospective TPP’s most controversial chapters. In May, U.S. Sen. Ron
Wyden (D-Ore.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on
International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness – the committee
with jurisdiction over the TPP – filed legislation to open the process
after he and his staff were denied access even to the U.S. proposals for
the TPP negotiations.
Last month, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk defended the
unprecedented secrecy of TPP negotiations by noting that when the draft
of a major regional trade pact was released previously, it became
impossible to finish the deal as then proposed. [...]
The TPP is the first trade pact the Obama administration is
negotiating. Today’s leak further complicates the administration’s goal
of completing TPP negotiations this fall. Already the TPP timeline was
generating political headaches for the Obama re-election campaign, as
repeated U.S polling shows that majorities of Democrats, Independents
and Republicans oppose more NAFTA-style trade deals.
* * *
Huffington Post:
Obama Trade Document Leaked, Revealing New Corporate Powers And Broken Campaign Promises
A critical document from President Barack Obama's free trade
negotiations with eight Pacific nations was leaked online early
Wednesday morning, revealing that the administration intends to bestow
radical new political powers upon multinational corporations,
contradicting prior promises.
The leaked document has been posted on the website of Public Citizen,
a long-time critic of the administration's trade objectives. The new
leak follows substantial controversy surrounding the secrecy of the
talks, in which some members of Congress have complained they are not
being given the same access to trade documents that corporate officials
receive.
"The outrageous stuff in this leaked text may well be why U.S. trade
officials have been so extremely secretive about these past two years of
[trade] negotiations," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's
Global Trade Watch in a written statement.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has been so incensed by the lack of access as
to introduce legislation requiring further disclosure. House Oversight
Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has gone so far as to leak a
separate document from the talks on his website. Other Senators are
considering writing a letter to Ron Kirk, the top trade negotiator under
Obama, demanding more disclosure.
The newly leaked document is one of the most controversial of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. It addresses a broad sweep of
regulations governing international investment and reveals the Obama
administration's advocacy for policies that environmental activists,
financial reform advocates and labor unions have long rejected for
eroding key protections currently in domestic laws.
* * *
Public Citizen:
TPP = Corporate Power Tool of the 1%
No comments:
Post a Comment