You Knew the TPP Was Bad. Here's How It Gets Even Worse
Negotiators are meeting in Atlanta, trying to wrap up the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). It might be wrapped up as soon as
Thursday. While the agreement is secret, there are reasons for people to
be very, very concerned.
Here is a news article that explains why
people should be alarmed about this secret “trade” agreement that the
giant corporations have come up with. Reuters reports, in “U.S. business groups oppose exceptions in Pacific trade pact“:
U.S.This is just one of many news reports, leaks and other warnings that tell us what is coming when TPP is completed.
business groups have voiced their opposition to blocking specific
products, like tobacco, from rules letting foreign companies sue
governments over damage to investments as Pacific trade ministers gather
to finalize an ambitious trade deal.
Ministers from the 12
nations negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the biggest trade
deal in a generation, will meet in Atlanta later on Wednesday to try to
close the pact.
The letter, sent to TPP officials late on Monday,
comes amid reluctance by some countries to sign on to rules similar to
those that allowed Marlboro maker Philip Morris to sue TPP partner
Australia over tobacco plain-packaging laws.
Sources close to the
negotiations have said one option under discussion is to exclude tobacco
from the investor-state dispute settlement rules, while Australia wants
a broader exemption from litigation over health and environmental
issues.
… Any different treatment for tobacco risks a backlash in
the United States and could erode support in Congress for the TPP by
upsetting lawmakers from tobacco-producing states like Kentucky.
protester speaks outside the hotel where the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Ministerial Meetings are being held in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo:
Reuters)
