Historical Tales

Nations of the Pacific Rim are negotiating a new free trade agreement under what some claim is a blanket of secrecy.

While the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group is a forum for discussing trade issues among nations a new player appeared in 2007 – the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Widening Pacific Free Trade

As a CBC News background article noted, “Early on, one of the TPP’s stated objectives was to ‘support the wider liberalization process in APEC consistent with its goals of free and open trade and investment’ by establishing a free trade area.”

The TPP is a negotiation taking place among 11 governments. The talks currently involve Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam, with Japan and others showing an interest in joining.

Michael Geist in the Toronto Star (June 2012) reports that, “Supporters have lauded the TPP as potentially the world’s most important trade pact and the Canadian government spent months crossing the globe to lobby for an invitation.”

However, he adds that because Ottawa came late to the talks, in June 2012, “Canada appears to have agreed to conditions that grant it second-tier status.”

Talks Behind Closed Doors

Some of the negotiations have taken place in secrecy, which is one source of criticism. In May 2012, a group of 30 law professors from several TPP countries released an open letter calling for the negotiations to be made public.

The legal academics pointed out that corporations have seen the documents and that prior to talks in Dallas, Texas in May 2012 the U.S. Trade Representative had further restricted “public involvement in the negotiations by eliminating the full-day stakeholder forums that have been hosted at other rounds.”

The professors say the lack of transparency, particularly with regard to rules on intellectual property, undermines the legitimacy of the negotiations. They called it “the kind of process that the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan criticized as policy making through “ignorant armies clash[ing] by night.’ ”

Critics Say Trans-Pacific Partnership Threatens Sovereignty

Despite the secrecy of the negotiations some draft details have been leaked and opponents say the agreement is simply a charter of rights for corporations.

The Council for Canadians believes that, “The TPP…enhances corporate rights to sue governments when public policies interfere with how, when, and where they make profits.”

This would mean punching holes in the supremacy of governments to pass laws for their own national benefit. In a sense, corporations would come close to achieving the same level of power as governments.

Another highly vocal opponent of the TPP is Lori Wallach of Global Trade Watch. Her group claims that the deal would mean a loss of American jobs as more manufacturing would be moved offshore as well as “Backdoor deregulation for financial firms to wreck the economy again. Floods of unsafe food and products. Higher medicine prices. A ban on Buy America policies needed to create green jobs and rebuild our economy. Foreign corporations empowered to attack our environmental and health policies in foreign tribunals.”

Support for Trans-Pacific Partnership

Proponents of the TPP say that freeing up trade in the Pacific region will create wealth and jobs.

Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper noted that, “Opening new markets and creating new business opportunities leads to jobs, growth, and long-term prosperity for all Canadians. A TPP agreement will enhance trade in the Asia-Pacific region and will provide greater economic opportunity for Canadians and Canadian businesses.”

And, as to the accusation of secrecy U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk responded to those 30 law professors by writing: “I am strongly offended by the assertion that our process has been non-transparent and lacked public participation. USTR has conducted in excess of 400 consultations with Congressional and private stakeholders on the TPP, including inviting stakeholders to all of the twelve negotiating rounds.”

Sources

• “What is the Trans-Pacific Partnership?” CBC News, June 20, 2012.
• “What’s Behind Canada’s Entry to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks?” Michael Geist, Toronto Star, June 24, 2012.
• “Law Professors Call for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Transparency.” Sean Flynn, infojustice.org, May 9, 2012.
• “Trans-Pacific Partnership.” Council of Canadians, July 30, 2012.
• “What is TPP.” Public Citizen.
• "PM Welcomes All-member Support for Entry into Trans-Pacific Partnership.” Prime Minister’s Office, June 19, 2012.
• “Conflicting Demands on Intellectual Property.” Washington Trade Report, May 14, 2012, page nine.