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Trade

What Happens When Policy Is Made By Corporations?

July 12, 2015 Evgeny Morozov, www.theguardian.com , ,
By Evgeny Morozov for the Guardian - One overlooked aspect of the emerging legal architecture that they enact is that, barring a Greece-like rebellion from the citizens, Europe will eventually sacrifice its strong and much-cherished commitment to data protection. This protectionist stance – aimed, above all, at protecting citizens from excessive corporate and state intrusion – is increasingly at odds with the “grab everything” mentality of contemporary capitalism. A recent op-ed penned by Carl Bildt, the perennial hawk of Swedish politics and now also chair of the Global Commission on Internet Governance, a thinktank, captures that neoliberal mentality quite accurately. According to Bildt: “Barriers against the free flow of data are, in effect, barriers against trade.” By the same token, building fences around your house is also an offence against capitalism. Who knows what kinds of advertising deals could be made with your data?

Israel Blocks Flotilla Of Foreign Activists From Reaching Gaza

June 29, 2015 Allyn Fisher-Ilan, www.Reuters.com , , ,
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan for Reuters - Israel said on Monday it had blocked a boat leading a four-vessel protest flotilla of foreign activists from reaching the Gaza Strip and forced the vessel to sail to an Israeli port. An Israeli military statement said there was no violence in the incident, in which troops boarded, searched and then forced the boat to sail to an Israeli port. Activists said the boat had a few dozen Europeans, including politicians, on board and had been headed for Gaza, the blockaded Palestinian territory. The Israeli statement early on Monday said that "after exhausting all diplomatic channels the Israeli government ordered the Israeli Navy to redirect the vessel in order to prevent breach of the naval blockade" of Gaza. It said troops searched the vessel in international waters and then escorted it to Israel's southern port of Ashdod.

Stop The TransPacific Partnership (TPP)

June 23, 2015 Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org , , , ,
By Margaret Flowers in Popular Resistance. In the days leading up to the Fast Track votes in the Senate, the activist community mobilized in an amazing way. Actions were held across the country, particularly focusing on the fourteen Democratic Senators who supported Fast Track in the last round. On June 23, the Senate held a procedural vote on the Fast Track bill that just reached the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster. This clears the way for the final vote which is expected to pass easily. Of the 14 Democrats who supported Fast Track previously, all but one voted to advance the vote.

EU Parliament Members To Senate: ‘No Fast Track’

June 23, 2015 Staff, www.popularresistance.org , , , ,
By Staff of Popular Resistance. Note: Forty three members of the European Parliament sent a letter to the members of the US House of Representatives last week urging them to oppose Fast Track. They highlighted the broad reach of the treaties currently under negotiation and the importance of exploring their full impacts on their constituents before moving ahead on them. Like the US Congress, members of the EU Parliament have been excluded from the secret negotiations with limited access to the text. Unlike the US Congress, they do not have a choice whether they Fast Track the treaties or not. They advise the US Congress not to cede their power to provide checks and balances to the executive office. This week, the parliamentarians decided to publish their similar letter to the US Senate as an open letter for all to read. Here it is:

World Refugee Day: Human Face Of A Global Crisis

June 21, 2015 Staff, www.telesurtv.net , , , , ,
By TeleSurTV.net. This year, World Refugee Day comes as the number of displaced people around the globe hits records levels of nearly 60 million, the majority of whom are hosted in developing countries. By the end of 2013, developing countries hosted 10.1 million refugees, or 86 percent of the global population of refugees. Countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, Pakistan, and Jordan carry a considerable burden of hosting the world's displaced, whereas wealthy countries such as U.S., Australia, Canada, and the U.K. are lagging far behind in helping to address the global refugee crisis.

Stop Fast Track!

June 17, 2015 Margaret Flowers, www.flushthetpp.org , , ,
By Margaret Flowers in Flush the TPP. The White House is working furiously with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to find a way to finagle passing a Fast Track bill. Republican Leadership is meeting with Free Trade Democrats behind closed doors to scheme. The media is rife with speculation about how they will pass Fast Track - voting on stand-alone Fast Track bills in the House and Senate, attaching Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) to other more popular bills, etc. It looks like the House will vote on Fast Track Thursday morning (June 18). They begin debate at 9 am EDT. You can watch it on CSPAN. We will be gathering outside the Capitol on the corner of Independence Ave and New Jersey Ave SE in Washington, DC at 7 am to catch Members as they drive or walk to the Capitol.

The Rigged Trade Rebellion To Stop Fast Track Begins!

June 4, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org , , ,
By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese. Washington, DC - The movement to stop Fast Track, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other rigged trade agreements is huge and very diverse. It has delayed previous attempts over the past few years by Congress to pass Fast Track legislation that would allow the President to sign international agreements like the TPP, Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) into law before they go to Congress for restricted review, no amendments and only an up-or-down vote. This year, the President and Republican leadership are doing all that they can to get Fast Track. They want to complete the TPP but final negotiations have stalled until Congress passes Fast Track.

Europe’s Growing Rebellion Against US Trans-Atlantic Deal

May 24, 2015 Katharina Wecker, www.occupy.com , ,
BERLIN, GERMANY — The tide of public resistance against a proposed free trade agreement between the U.S. and the European Union is rising in Germany, as opponents become more firmly entrenched, insisting that the plan would harm democracy and rule of law. Around 43 percent of Germans say the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would be bad for the country, according to a recent poll by market research company YouGov. Only 26 percent think the country would benefit from it. Residents of other European countries appear to feel less negatively about the agreement. In France, one in three think the country would lose out, while in Great Britain it’s only one in five. "The more people know about TTIP, the more they are against it," explained Lena Blanken, a consumer rights activist with Berlin-based Foodwatch, a consumer protection organization. "In other European countries there is not yet such a broad and controversial public debate as in Germany — that’s why the opposition is the biggest here."

What The Trade Battles Are Really About

May 23, 2015 Zaid Jilani, www.alternet.org , , , , ,
As opponents and advocates of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) continue to battle it out, the debate over the agreement has largely focused on the issue of trade – whether jobs will be lost or gained, what the agreement will do to our trade deficit, and other related matters. It's worth pointing out that the United States already trades heavily with the other 11 nations included in the TPP talks. As Paul Krugman says, “this is not a trade agreement. It's about intellectual property and dispute settlement; the big beneficiaries are likely to be pharma companies and firms that want to sue governments.” Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has been particularly critical of the so-called Investor State Dispute Settlement provisions, which would empower corporations to use international courts to sue the U.S. government and others who are enacting regulations and protections that harm their profits.

Final Phase In Battle To Stop Rigged Corporate Trade

May 22, 2015 Mackenzie McDonald and Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org , , ,
On Thursday, despite the cold and rain in Washington D.C., people took to the streets to protest Fast Track for rigged corporate trade deals like the nearly complete Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The protest began with a march around the House Office Buildings on Capitol Hill. They chanted for democracy and played bucket drums capturing the attention of house members and staff who peered out their windows. Kathryn Johnson of Public Citizen spoke about the recent Senate cloture vote which will cut off debate on the Senate floor after only 30 hours. This means that Fast Track for secret trade deals will be Fast Tracked and the more than 150 proposed amendments will not be heard. The protest, organized by Popular Resistance, Beyond Extreme Energy, and others, was also part of a 9 day action period in Washington that is being organized by Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE).

Obama Wrong Again: Trade Law Undermines Food Safety Law

May 18, 2015 Public Citizen, Global Trade Watch, www.PopularResistance.org , , ,
Today’s final ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body against popular U.S. country-of-origin meat labeling (COOL) policy spotlights how trade agreements can undermine domestic public interest policies, Public Citizen said today. The WTO decision is likely to further fuel opposition to Fast Track authority for controversial “trade” pacts that would expose U.S. consumer and environmental protections to more such challenges. (A list of some of the past public interest policies undermined by trade pacts is below.) COOL requires labeling of pork and beef sold in the United States to inform consumers the country in which the animals were born, raised and slaughtered. “The president says ‘we’re making stuff up,’ about trade deals undermining our consumer and environmental policies but today, we have the latest WTO ruling against a popular U.S. consumer policy. Last week, Canadian officials announced that our financial regulations violate trade rules, and earlier this year, the Obama administration, in response to another trade agreement ruling, opened all U.S. roads to Mexico-domiciled trucks that threaten highway safety and the environment, “said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.

Warren Solidly Responds To Obama With The Facts On Trade

May 18, 2015 Staff of Senator Elizabeth Warren, www.warren.senate.gov , , , , ,
The Senate will soon vote on the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 – also known as “Fast Track.” President Obama has requested Fast Track authority from Congress to ease the passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a massive trade agreement with 12 countries that account for nearly 40% of the global economy. President Obama has repeatedly stated that the TPP is “the most progressive trade bill in history” because it has high labor, environmental, and human rights standards. The President claims the TPP will have “higher labor standards, higher environmental standards,” and “new tools to hold countries accountable.” But proponents of almost every free trade agreement (FTA) in the last 20 years have made virtually identical claims. The TPP is being hailed as the strongest free trade agreement yet. But this is not the first time this claim has been made. Proponents of previous trade agreements have made similar claims about every free trade agreement signed in the last 20 years, from the NAFTA agreement in 1993 to the more recent agreements with Colombia and Panama. By now, we have two decades of experience with free trade agreements under both Democratic and Republican Presidents. Supporters of these agreements have always promised that they contain tough standards to protect workers. But this analysis reveals that the rhetoric has not matched the reality.

Food Fear Lands Japan in Court Over US Trade Deal

May 17, 2015 Aya Takada, www.washpost.bloomberg.com , , ,
Masahiko Yamada, 73, a lawyer and minister in 2010 in the then Democratic Party of Japan government, filed the lawsuit at Tokyo District Court on Friday on behalf of more than 1,000 plaintiffs, seeking to prevent Japan from joining the Trans- Pacific Partnership, he said by phone. The litigation is another twist in efforts by Japan and the U.S., the top economies among TPP members, to expedite talks on the agreement covering about 40 percent of the world’s commerce. The accord would deepen Japan’s dependence on farm imports and threaten its food security, said Yamada. The nation, which relies on imports for about 60 percent of its food, has cut its self-sufficiency target as the government expands trade deals.

Hypotheticals On The TPP

May 17, 2015 BadBoyScientist, www.dailykos.com , , ,
This isn't as much a diary as a few questions to start a discussion. Supposing the TPP gets rammed through and American states, counties and cities lose some of their autonomy to the 'Star Chamber' of multinationals. I suspect they won't like it - and their constituents won't like it. 0) Can state and local governments practice 'civil disobedience' to protest an unjust law? 1) Could a state use this as a basis to secede from the United States since it will be placing the State under 'foreign rule' with no way to petition this 'shadow gov't'? 2) Could a city or state just ignore the ruling of this 'court'? I mean, how much power does that court have? Who enforces it? What could they do if a state said "Try to stop us from prohibiting the sale of those products and good luck collecting your settlement from us."

Obama Hurls Insults At Democrats And Democratic Base

May 14, 2015 Brent Budowsky, www.observer.com , , , ,
In Mr. Obama’s speech at Nike last week, his comments to Matt Bai of Yahoo over the weekend, and White House press secretary Josh Earnest’s comments to reporters on Monday, Mr. Obama and his White House staff have repeated a string of personal insults directed against prominent liberal Democrats in Congress, liberal Democrats across the nation, organized labor, and leading public interest and environmental groups who share doubts about the TPP trade deal. Mr. Obama’s tirades on trade have included accusations that these liberal Democrats are ignorant about trade policy, insincere when offering their opinions, motivated by politics and not the national interest, and backward looking towards the past. Obama’s repeated attacks against Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), in which he charged that Warren’s concern about the trade bill is motivated not by a reasoned view of what is right for America but by her personal political motivations, is one of the most dishonest and repellant examples of character assassination and contempt by any American president.
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