TTIP

Mass Protests Slam TAFTA As ‘Corporate Power Grab’

October 12, 2014 Staff, www.infiniteunknown.net Resist! Corporatism, Democracy, TAFTA, TTIP

Tens of thousands of people are flooding the streets of cities all over Europe on Saturday in mass rallies against a controversial trade agreement between the US and the EU. Talks on the pact, called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), started last February and, having been mostly held behind closed doors, have raised widespread concerns in the European Union and beyond. Social networks have been mobilized for a mass campaign that has been calling on Europeans and Americans to take action against “the biggest corporate power grab in a decade.” Protests were planned in 22 countries across Europe – marches, rallies and other public events – in over 1,000 locations in UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic and Scandinavian countries.

Time Again To Stop Fast Track; Stop The TPP & TAFTA

October 3, 2014 Staff, www.popularresistance.org Organize! fast track, TAFTA, TPP, TTIP

Nov. 8th to 14th Week of Action: Say NO to Fast Track and Unjust Trade! This fall, communities across the U.S. will once again join international allies in a global week of action against unjust trade. With Obama pushing to announce a TPP “framework” in November and the threat of Fast Track tripling in the lame-duck session, we need to demonstrate that hundreds of thousands still oppose corporate agreements meant to put profit before people and the planet. Let us know if you think your community can hold an action of any kind this November, and help us stand beside those resisting unjust trade from New Zealand to New York.

U.S. Accused Of Forcing EU To Accept Tar Sands Oil

July 19, 2014 Carey L. Biron, www.ipsnews.net Educate! Canada, European Union (EU), Free Trade Agreements, Tar Sands, TTIP, US

Newly publicised internal documents suggest that U.S. negotiators are working to permanently block a landmark regulatory proposal in the European Union aimed at addressing climate change, and instead to force European countries to import particularly dirty forms of oil. Environmentalists, working off of documents released through open government requests, say U.S. trade representatives are responding to frustrations voiced by the oil and gas industry here. This week, U.S. and E.U. officials are in Brussels for the sixth round of talks towards what would be the world’s largest free-trade area, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). “These documents show that the U.S. is simply not interested in an open, transparent [negotiation] process.” -- Bill Waren “These documents show that the U.S. is simply not interested in an open, transparent [negotiation] process,” Bill Waren, a senior trade analyst with Friends of the Earth U.S., a watchdog group, told IPS. “Rather, U.S. representatives have been lobbying on the [E.U. regulatory proposal] in a way that reflects the interests of Chevron, ExxonMobil and others.” The oil industry has repeatedly expressed concern over the European Union’s potential tightening of regulations around transport fuel emissions, first proposed in 2009 for what’s known as the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD). Yet according to a report released Thursday by Friends of the Earth Europe, the sector now appears to have convinced the U.S. government to work to permanently block the implementation of this standard.

Protests Against EU-US Trade Deal

July 13, 2014 Staff, www.economicvoice.com Resist! TAFTA, TTIP

More than one thousand protestors occupied the London square in front of the European Union’s UK base today as part of nationwide demonstrations against the trade deal currently being negotiated between the EU and the US. Protestors took over Smith Square, the Westminster home of Europe House, between 1pm and 3pm, demanding an end to talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). David Cameron is pushing hard for the deal, which critics have described as a ‘corporate power-grab’. Negotiators will meet in Brussels on Tuesday 15 July in an attempt to reach an agreement on the most contentious proposals in the deal.

U.S. And EU Civil Society: TTIP Bad For Many Sectors

July 12, 2014 Kate Colwell, www.foe.org Resist! Environment, Food and Agriculture, Free Trade Agreements, health, TTIP

The next round of negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will take place July 14–18 in Brussels, almost exactly a year since the first round in Washington, DC. Since that time, movements for local and regional farming and food systems and public health advocates on both sides of the Atlantic have coordinated efforts to raise their concerns around the agreement. Civil society groups from the U.S. and EU are deeply concerned that the agreement could serve to lower standards on food safety and public health. “We must not let free trade agreements like TTIP move us towards even more intensive food production without thinking about how this will impact on the environment, public health, food safety, rural development and local communities. Civil society in both the EU and the U.S. is ready to raise the bar and instead of starting a race to the bottom,” said Robert Pederson of ARC2020, the European sustainable agriculture coalition.

US Desperate, Will Pay For TAFTA Support

June 25, 2014 Al Kamen, www.washingtonpost.com Educate! Free Trade Agreements, PR, TTIP

Some folks in Europe — farmers, consumer groups, enviros, privacy advocates and others — have strongly opposed the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that’s now being negotiated. Opposition in France and Italy had been strong. And now it seems the Germans are looking increasingly askance at the treaty. But the Obama administration,free-trade and business groups are pushing hard for an agreement. So the U.S. embassy in Berlin is enlisting treaty-supporting Germans — even offering cold, hard cash. “Are you pro-TTIP and angry at the negative coverage it’s been getting? Send us your ideas and we’ll support you!” the embassy, or “Botschaft,” said in a tweet in German on Friday. That’s right, the embassy’s public affairs section has launched project “T-TIP: Get Informed! Get Involved.” The section is “soliciting proposals” and offering grants of between $5,000 and $20,000 to German non-profits, “non-governmental organizations, think tanks and academic institutions” to get out the real “facts and figures” and to “combat misinformation.”

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.

Secret Trade Memo Calls For More Fracking and Offshore Drilling

May 20, 2014 Kate Sheppard and Zach Carter, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Fracking, Free Trade Agreements, TPP, TTIP

The European Union is pressing the Obama administration to expand U.S. fracking, offshore oil drilling and natural gas exploration under the terms of a secret negotiation text obtained by The Huffington Post. The controversial document is an early draft of energy policies that EU negotiators hope to see adopted under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade deal, which is currently being negotiated. The text was shared with American officials in September. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative declined to comment on the document. Environmental groups fear the broad language proposed for the deal would eliminate key restrictions on the export of crude oil and natural gas, fossil fuels that contribute to climate change. The document marks the first major bone of contention in the EU deal, amid an outcry from environmentalists over leaked terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a separate pact that the U.S. and 11 Pacific nations are also negotiating. "Exports of energy goods to the other Party shall be deemed automatically to comply with any conditions and tests foreseen in the Parties’ respective legislation for the granting of export licenses," the memo reads, defining "energy goods" as "coal, crude oil, oil products, natural gas, whether liquefied or not, and electrical energy." The U.S. government treats trade negotiation texts as classified information. Previous leaks concerning the EU deal have focused on lighter topics, including whether American cheesemakers can call their products "feta" or "parmesan."

240 Arrested During TTIP Protest Blocking European Business Summit

May 17, 2014 Revolution News, www.revolution-news.com Resist! Free Trade Agreements, Protest, TTIP

About 500 activists D1-20 Alliance, which brings together farmers, citizens, workers, unemployed or artists gathered Thursday morning in the center of Brussels. They marched to the Egmont Palace, home of the European Business Summit, via the Boulevard de Waterloo, hoping to block the summit. The police, backed by riot police, surrounded the protesters and made arrests. The police also used water-cannons. A total of 240 protesters were arrested administratively, said the spokesman of the police zone Brussels Capital Ixelles, Christian De Coninck. The mayors of the municipalities of Ixelles in Brussels had allowed a procession on the corner of Place Poelaert and Place du Luxembourg. The agreement was also signed with the CSPF and the CNE. The demonstrators did not comply with this agreement, however, as some of them tried to encircle the Egmont Palace where the summit was held, said Christian De Coninck. Those arrested Thursday morning will be released sometime in the afternoon.

Concerned Citizens Of The World Write To Obama

March 25, 2014 Staff, www.popularresistance.org Organize! Barack Obama, NSA, TTIP

Activists in the European Union who are concerned about the Atlantic version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership have launched a campaign in anticipation of President Obama's visit to Brussels on March 26 called "We Need to Talk Obama" (see #WNTT and @w3needtotalk). They are asking for your support to raise awareness of their campaign. The activists say that the entire city of Brussels has been shut down for Obama's visit and that they have never witnessed anything like this. Please visit their website: www.weneedtotalk.eu and send President Obama a letter. Please share the campaign on social media. You can use images that have already been created or make your own using the meme generator on the website.

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