University of Ottawa’s Michael Geist breaks down the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), a proposed trade agreement that Stephen Harper has been toiling over in secret for the last five years – an agreement that will have huge impacts on Canada’s internet freedom and copyright issues.
Source: TPP: Spying, Blocking, and the Internet | CANADALAND
Learn more about how the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is on track to become the most harmful trade pact ever for access to medicines in developing countries.
You may have heard that wealthy Hollywood types are boycotting the Beverly Hills Hotel (assuming you follow news about places only rich Hollywood types can afford to stay). This is because the hotel is owned by an investment firm that is owned by the Sultan of Brunei. The Sultan is implementing Sharia law in the tiny kingdom, which would make it legal to stone adulterers and LGBTQ people to death and place harsh sentences on women who have abortions or become pregnant outside of marriage.
This on its own is upsetting enough, but I came across an article on the Huffington Post that pointed out that Brunei would be part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and this recent controversy could threaten the TPP.
What is the TransPacific Partnership? Well it is similar to the North American Free Trade Agreement and establishes a free trade zone around the Pacific Ocean, encompassing (currently) fourteen countries, 800 million people, and 40 percent of the global economy. President Obama has been trying hard to get this passed but it has come up against some opposition for some very good reasons:
So we have a trade deal which could keep developing countries from getting HIV medication, curtail internet freedom, affects the global economy in ways we can’t imagine yet, give immense power to corporations, and we would enter into this agreement with a country (exercising its religious freedom) that thinks (even if the standards of proof are high) that it is OK to stone LGBTQ people to death or put women in prison for getting an abortion.
Now I hope that all this attention does change the mind of the Sultan of Brunei and stops the TPP.
http://www.marketpulse.com 20140512
Countries involved in negotiations for an ambitious Pacific free trade agreement began talks in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City on Monday, aiming to strike a deal in time for a ministerial meeting that Singapore has confirmed will be held in the city-state on May 19-20.
The fresh round of negotiations comes after Japan and the United States, the two biggest economies in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, moved closer over bilateral contentious issues following a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Barack Obama last month.
Over the next four days, the chief negotiators from the 12 TPP member nations will focus on resolving tough remaining issues such as tariffs, especially in areas including politically sensitive agricultural goods, intellectual property and reform of state-owned companies.
Koji Tsuruoka, Japan’s top TPP negotiator, said bilateral negotiations over tariff removal will be the key to moving things forward at the meeting.
“I hope we will be able to see significant results that will lead to finalizing” a deal, Tsuruoka told reporters prior to the start of the meeting, noting that there has been major progress in Japan-U.S. bilateral talks recently.
2013-09-11 http://www.canplastics.com
Canadian exports could grow by as much as $15.7-billion if the federal government pulls the trigger on entering into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), according to the Fraser Institute.
According to a new study from the public policy think-tank, joining the TPP would provide a huge boost to the national economy and help move Canada away from its dependence on the United States as a trading partner.
“With the Conservative government signalling that international trade is a top priority, the TPP offers a chance for Canada to gain a foothold in the prosperous and growing Asian markets and move the country away from trade dependence on the United States,” international trade specialist and study co-author Laura Dawson said in a statement. “Participating in the TPP is also important to safeguard Canada’s current trade agreements, particularly (the North American Free Trade Agreement) NAFTA.”
While Dawson calculates that the TPP could provide a $9.9-billion increase in Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP), she said the agreement could be equally as important in shaping the rules of future trade agreements and ensuring gains already made, such as NAFTA, are protected so Canada does not have to undertake costly reforms to adapt to a new system.
“The era of easy trade policy gains may be over but the disciplines imposed by the TPP on investment, regulatory alignment, rules of origin and market access will, in the longer term, help increase certainty, reduce risk, and lower costs for Canadian exporters and investors in emerging markets,” Dawson said.
Entering the TPP trade agreement would secure a trade alliance between Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore the U.S. and Vietnam, representing a combined economy of more than $27-trillion and about one third of global trade.
Additionally, the TPP has the potential to expand to include all Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries, providing for greater market-access gains in the future, the study.
“A significant attraction of the TPP is engaging China,” Dawson continued. “If China were to join, the TPP would become the first regional agreement to include the world’s three largest economies: the United States, China and Japan.”
The study also notes that when Canada negotiated the NAFTA and World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements in the early 1990s, issues such as electronic commerce, digital media and third-party logistics had not yet entered the commercial mainstream.
The TPP agreement provides a platform for discussing and resolving these and other emerging issues.
“If Ottawa is serious about diversifying Canada’s trade relationships, then TPP membership is a golden opportunity to do so,” Dawson said.
The full report can be accessed here.
Andrew Phillip Chernoff 