The Trans-Pacific Free-Trade Charade | analysis | Hindustan Times:
The Trans-Pacific Free-Trade Charade
- Joseph E. Stiglitz and Adam S. Hersh, Project Syndicate
- As negotiators and ministers from the United States and 11 other
Pacific Rim countries meet in Atlanta in an effort to finalize the
details of the sweeping new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), some sober analysis is warranted. The biggest regional trade and investment agreement in history is not what it seems.
You will hear much about the importance of the TPP for “free trade.”
The reality is that this is an agreement to manage its members’ trade
and investment relations – and to do so on behalf of each country’s most
powerful business lobbies. Make no mistake: It is evident from the main
outstanding issues, over which negotiators are still haggling, that the
TPP is not about “free” trade.
New Zealand has threatened to walk away from the agreement over the
way Canada and the US manage trade in dairy products. Australia is not
happy with how the US and Mexico manage trade in sugar. And the US is
not happy with how Japan manages trade in rice. These industries are
backed by significant voting blocs in their respective countries. And
they represent just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how the TPP would
advance an agenda that actually runs counter to free trade.
Joseph E. Stiglitz
(Project syndicate)
