Free Trade

Desperate Obama Administration Deceives On Fast Track & TPP

March 3, 2015 Yves Smith, www.nakedcapitalism.com Educate! Elizabeth Warren, Free Trade, TPP

The Massachusetts senator has come out forcefully against the misleadingly named trade deals, the TransPacific Partnership and its ugly sister, the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Mind you, these treaties are not about trade. Trade is already substantially liberalized and in keeping, only five of the 29 chapters of the TransPacific Partnership deal with tariffs. What these pacts are primarily intended to do is strengthen intellectual property laws to help US software and entertainment companies, along with Big Pharma, increase their hefty profits, and to aid multinational by permitting the greatly increased use of secret, conflict-ridden arbitration panels that allow foreign investors to sue governments over laws that they contend reduced potential future profits. I am not making that up.

Free Speech As A Barrier To Trade? The Latest Anti-BDS Scheme

March 3, 2015 Chip Gibbons, www.defendingdissent.org Educate! BDS, Free Speech, Free Trade

Reps. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) and Juan Vargas (D-Calif.) have introduced the United States-Israel Trade and Commercial Enhancement Act into Congress. This bill, according to Roskam’s press release, would “counter the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel and strengthen the U.S.-Israel economic relationship.” The bill cites its raison d’être not as a political defense of Israel, but as concern over “politically motivated actions” that would constitute barriers of trade in violation of the General Agreement on Trades and Tariffs (GATT). It would tie U.S. trade policy, most notably the pending trade deal with the European Union, to opposing BDS.

TTIP: Transatlantic Trade Deal Text Leaked To BBC

March 2, 2015 Glenn Campbell, www.bbc.com Educate! Europe, Free Trade, TTIP

The document describes itself as the EU's "initial offer" in negotiations over the transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP). It includes the wording that UK ministers have said will protect the NHS from privatisation. Anti-TTIP campaigners say a specific exemption for the NHS is still needed. The 103-page document is headed "trade in services and investment: schedule of specific commitments and reservations". On health, the document states: "The EU reserves the right to adopt or maintain any measure with regard to the provision of all health services which receive public funding or State support in any form". The wording is the same as that used in a similar free trade agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA). The UK trade minister, Lord Livingston, said last week that this text ensured "publicly funded health services are excluded".

Why US Food Is More Dangerous Than Food In Europe

March 1, 2015 Alison Rose Levy, www.alternet.org Educate! Foods, Free Trade, Precautionary principle, TAFTA, TPP, TTIP

A speaker at an event I recently attended asked why U.S. food companies put butylated hydroxyltoluene, a food preservative and endocrine disruptor, in cereal sold stateside, while in Europe the same companies formulate the same product without BHT. There are three answers to that question: The European Union prohibits numerous harmful ingredients U.S. regulatory agencies allow. Well-informed European citizens have organized and pushed for those regulations. U.S. citizens have not yet pushed for such regulations in sufficient numbers. The precautionary principle is an approach to risk management which places the burden of proof to demonstrate a product or ingredient's safety on the corporations that produces the product— prior to releasing it to the public. Over the last few decades, the U.S. has become lax with this approach while Europe proceeds with a greater amount of caution. But that contrast may not survive efforts by the U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and multinational corporations, which are currently negotiating super trade treaties behind closed doors.

Nurses Sound A Code Blue In D.C. On Fast Track & TPP

February 28, 2015 National Nurses United, www.nationalnursesunited.org Resist! Free Trade, NAFTA, Protest, TPP

With the White House and some of the biggest multinational corporations lobbying Congress to “fast track" the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive trade deal between the United States and 11 other countries, National Nurses United today converged on the nation’s capital to explain that what’s good for investors’ balance sheets is not necessarily good for patients. “Nurses are patient advocates—and by extension advocates of our patients’ families and our communities—and we are here to sound a Code Blue on fast track,” said RN Deborah Burger, a member of the NNU’s Council of Presidents. “While there are many good reasons to reject fast track, the nation’s registered nurses are particularly concerned about these trade agreements’ threats to public health and safety.”

Congress Ready To Introduce Fast Track: Act Now

February 28, 2015 Maira Sutton, www.eff.org Resist! Congress, Free Trade, Law, TPP

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks are stalling while the White House assures its trading partners that this secret trade agreement won't be amended when it comes back to Congress for ratification after the President signs the deal. That's why the Executive is scrambling to get its allies in Congress to pass Fast Track. If they succeed, the U.S. Trade Representative can block remaining opportunities for the examination of the TPP's provisions by lawmakers who could ensure that this secret deal does not contain expansive copyright rules that would lock the U.S. into broken copyright rules that are already in bad need of reform. The Fast Track bill is likely going to be introduced as early as next week—so it's time to speak out now. Congress needs to hear from their constituents that we expect them to hold the White House accountable for the TPP's restrictive digital policies.

#FightFastTrack Protests Across The Country

February 20, 2015 Sarah Lazare, www.commondreams.org Resist! Corporatism, Free Trade, TPP

Environmental, labor, and community groups are organizing rallies, public forums, and creative direct actions this week urging their congressional representatives to say "no" to a renewed bid to rush through the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership "trade" deal by passing "fast track" legislation. "Senate Finance Committe Chair Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is saying he wants to reintroduce Fast Track legislation for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) this month — right after Members of Congress return from the Presidents Day recess,"explains Citizens Trade Campaign, referring to legislation that would allow the Obama administration to avoid transparency and full congressional review of the deal. "Now’s the time to tell Congress: no Fast Track for the TPP!"

Honduras: Model Cities To Be Corporate Controlled Mini-States

February 14, 2015 Derek Royden, www.occupy.com Educate! Free Trade, Honduras, Neo-Liberalism

These charter, or “model” cities, significantly expand on the idea of free trade areas as they currently exist in places like Panama and Singapore. Unlike the zones in those countries, the ones planned in Honduras will not only be economically independent, but they'll be exclusively governed by corporations, both local and international, which will create and enforce their own laws in the territories ceded to them by the state. These Special Economic Development Zones (the Spanish language acronym is ZEDE) are based on the ideas of Paul Romer, an economist at New York University, whose initial plan was that “the charter city should be established in abandoned territory,” not only to develop these unused areas but also to ensure that people would not be displaced when they’re created.

For Profit College Investor Controls Trade Journal

January 17, 2015 David Halperin, www.nationofchange.org Educate! Education, Free Trade, University

Quad Partners, a New York private equity firm that is invested heavily in the for-profit college industry, and whose founder has aggressively opposed regulation of that troubled industry, has acquired a controlling stake in the respected trade publication Inside Higher Ed (IHE), which often reports on for-profit colleges and the policy disputes surrounding them. There has been no public announcement, but the Quad Partners website now listsInside Higher Ed as one of its investments, among a range of education-related companies, including for-profit trade schools Beckfield College, Blue Cliff College, Dorsey Schools, Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, and Marinello Schools of Beauty. Doug Lederman, one of IHE‘s two top editors, confirmed to me that Quad purchased a majority interest in IHE in November.

Stopping The Biggest Corporate Power Grab In Years

January 7, 2015 Arthur Stamoulis, www.fpif.org Organize! Free Trade, TPP, WTO

The TPP is a deal the United States is negotiating with 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific region (Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam) allegedly to boost “free trade.” However, the pact goes far beyond traditional trade issues, to affect banking regulations, environmental protections, access to medicines, use of the internet, and much more. Most notably, the deal would undermine countries’ ability to make sovereign decisions and instead offer protections to transnational corporate investors. And full information about the TPP is not even available — the level of transparency is so low that all public access to the text has come from leaks.

It’s Our Digital Future Video Launch

November 22, 2014 Open Media, www.docs.google.com Create! Canada, Free Trade, Freedom of Expression, Internet, TPP

At it's best, the Internet encourages us to share, use our creativity, and express ourselves freely. But these freedoms are being threatened by big media conglomerates who are trying to use copyright laws to control the Internet. While copyright laws were originally created to protect people's ability to make a living from their inventions, today they have been corrupted by big media conglomerates, abusing them for their advantage. It will be easy to fail to follow the rules without even knowing it. Now, big media conglomerates are trying to change the rules again to be even more restrictive through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Under the TPP, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) could be forced to police your internet use and forced to kick you off line if you are just suspicious of breaking rules without a jury, judge, or due process.

Close To Home: Partnership Would Threaten Local Control

November 22, 2014 Tony White, www.pressdemocrat.com Educate! Capitalism, Free Trade, GMOs, TPP

Though fast track has been used before, it raises constitutional issues and arouses suspicion about the proponents’ priorities and secret provisions of the pact. This process does not meet the minimal standards of transparency and accountability. Fair trade agreements do not have to be fast tracked. As with NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, the Trans-Pacific Partnership would favor the free flow of capital, remove restrictions on trade and investment, eliminate subsidies, protect intellectual property rights and promote privatization of public services. It is more about protecting investments than about trade.

Now Is The Time To Step Up To Protest Corporate Trade

November 6, 2014 Professor Jane Kelsey, www.thedailyblog.co.nz Resist! Finance and the Economy, Free Trade, New Zealand, TPP

There is a mythology that the TPPA will never happen. That is a reckless assumption. It encourages complacency and inaction. And it is seriously wrong. The political leaders of the twelve countries know they have to do the deal soon or it will become paralysed. That won’t happen when the trade ministers meet on 8th November in Beijing on the margins of APEC. But it could happen within a couple of months. No one should doubt how serious they are. That was obvious at the ministerial meeting ten days ago in Sydney. The pressure on the negotiators in the handful of remaining sensitive chapters is intense, as if they have instructions to finish their technical work so the ministers can finalise the deal. What has been saving us all is the continued standoff between the US and Japan over agriculture and automobiles.

Wikileaks Publishes Updated Intellectual Property TPP Chapter

October 17, 2014 Wikileaks, www.wikileaks.org Educate! Free Trade, Property, TPP, Wikileaks

Today, Thursday 16 October 2014, WikiLeaks released a second updated version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. The TPP is the world's largest economic trade agreement that will, if it comes into force, encompass more than 40 per cent of the world's GDP. The IP Chapter covers topics from pharmaceuticals, patent registrations and copyright issues to digital rights. Experts say it will affect freedom of information, civil liberties and access to medicines globally. The WikiLeaks release comes ahead of a Chief Negotiators' meeting in Canberra on 19 October 2014, which is followed by what is meant to be a decisive Ministerial meeting in Sydney on 25–27 October. Despite the wide-ranging effects on the global population, the TPP is currently being negotiated in total secrecy by 12 countries. Few people, even within the negotiating countries' governments, have access to the full text of the draft agreement and the public, who it will affect most, none at all.

It’s Time For A Final Break With ‘Free Trade’

June 25, 2014 Mark Bergfeld, www.rt.com Educate! Free Trade, TTIP, Zapatistas

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) might just push people on both sides of the Atlantic over the edge. The ideology of “free trade” reminds me of my ex-girlfriend telling me not to make promises I cannot keep. From Adam Smith to Bill Clinton, elites have contended that “free trade” means less war and more jobs. To be more precise, “free trade” is freedom. In its most recent history, its promise of growth and prosperity has remained unfulfilled, however. Economic growth remains sluggish despite trade barriers being at an all-time low. While I continued to make promises, world leaders continue trying to stretch the boundaries of the possible once again. The latest promise of free trade comes in form of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a free trade zone stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Hawaiian Islands. Just as my girlfriend grew discontented with my promises and broke up with me, peoples across the globe have grown outright hostile to free trade. TTIP might just push people on both sides of the Atlantic over the edge.

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