by Shelley Pineo-Jensen, Ph.D. 2/8/16
The TPP has been signed
The United States Congress voted to Fast Track the Trans
Pacific Partnership (TPP) last summer, indicating their strong support of the
trade deal. US president Barack Obama was eager to sign the trade deal –
which he did on February 4, 2016 in Auckland, New Zealand. Representatives of
twelve nations around the Pacific Rim (U.S., Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Australia,
New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Japan) gathered, where
they were greeted by protesters at the site of the signing, the Skycity Hotel. |
February 4, 2016 TPP Protest in Auckland, New Zealand “from inside
Skycity Hotel”
|
Bringing it on home
The TPP will now undergo a two-year ratification period in
which at least six countries must approve the final text for the deal to be
implemented. In the US, the Congress must vote to approve. It
is unclear when this will happen, given the tremendous unpopularity of the
trade deal with the public.
According to Public Citizen “A June 2015 New York Times /
CBS News poll revealed that 63 percent of the U.S. public believes that “trade
restrictions are necessary to protect domestic industries” while only 30
percent think “free trade must be allowed, even if domestic industries are hurt
by foreign competition.” Democrats, Republicans and independents all
overwhelmingly supported protection of domestic businesses over "free trade" at any cost.
 |
| US income inequality as a function of economic globalization |
What’s not to like?
Social justice and environmental groups, unions, and
others find the TPP to be anti-democratic and a threat to food safety and
environmental standards. Handing over international control of the
internet is considered to be a threat to freedom of communication, price, and
privacy. Critics including the New England
Journal of Medicine claim that provisions regarding drug data and
drug patents will be harmful to health care policy worldwide, preventing
countries from developing cheaper generic drugs.
The ISDS – an international court where corporations can sue countries for
billions of dollars
When the US Congress writes a law that overrules the laws
of a state it is called “preemption.” Preemption is the power of a higher level
of governmental body to override the ability of a lower level of government to
make laws. The TPP includes an Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) that
would allow foreign companies to challenge U.S. laws at an international
arbitration board with the power to level millions and even billions of dollars
in damages against cities, counties, states, or the federal government. The
judges on this court of no appeals would be stocked with highly paid corporate
lawyers; corporations can sue countries, states, counties, and cities for loss
of “expected future profits” that a law might impede. ISDS arbitration has
already been used by corporations to halt raising the minimum wage in Egypt,
the reduction of nuclear power in Germany, and the implementation of tobacco
regulations in Uruguay.
At the state level, transnational corporations including
Monsanto are using preemption to circumvent local control of GMO agriculture.
Nestle has set its sights on control of water supplies so they can bottle it in
single-use plastic containers and ship it around the world; preemption is a
tool Nestle can use to bypass the needs and desires of local communities to
have access to local water supplies. State level preemption is facilitated by
the so-called DARK Act, which makes it illegal for a state to legislate GMO
labeling of food or restrict GMO crop production.
At the national level, preemption is currently imposed by
The World Trade Organization (WTO). The TPP would further empower international
preemption of national laws.
To learn more about the ISDS and how it has been used to
defeat citizen’s rights, read my article here:Learn more about the TPP's ISDS
 |
| Preemption |
Protests in Maui
Members and supporters of the group Popular Resistance met
on Maui as leaders and negotiators arrived to discuss the TPP. The group’s
website said, “The protests will educate and unite people on Hawaii against
corporate imperial ‘trade’ deals that will threaten indigenous sovereignty on
the island, increase the use of GMO crops, diminish worker rights, and reward
multinationals that pollute the environment on the islands and around the
world.”
 |
| Protests on Maui |
Protests in Peru
Since the signing in Auckland, thousands of people took to
the streets of Lima to communicate to their congress to block ratification of
the TPP. One of the protesters explained, “The thing is that our agricultural
and crop knowledge doesn’t have a patent
because it never needed one . . . [now] not only will our farmers be
forced to harvest genetically modified crops but also we will have no other
choice but to eat it.” The police brought out tear gas to quell what
organizers claim was a peaceful protest.
TPP protesters tear-gassed in Lima
Long term resistance to the TPP
In places like Japan, resistance to the TPP is
long-standing. It is known as “a hotbed of protest” against the TPP. One
protester explained, “Foreign laborers could come into the country; not only
the workers, but the companies too. The fact that they are foreigners is no
problem. We are worried about the effect on wages. For skilled Japanese
craftsmen, we worry this will be used to bid down the money we make.”
 |
| Protest in Japan |
US groups oppose the TPP
Some of the groups that have been advocating against the
TPP include
Mainstream media has
not covered it, but there have been protests in the US as well.
 |
| Protest in Atlanta |
Please sir, may I have another?
And there is more bad news – the
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is coming down the pike. The
TTIP would create the world’s largest free-trade zone, encompassing some 800
million consumers, and overrule local
regulations in areas ranging from food safety law to environmental rules and
banking regulations.
 |
| Berlin anti-TTIP trade deal protest in October attracted hundreds of thousands |
Some good news
Bernie Sanders helped lead the fight against NAFTA. He has
called the TPP “a disastrous trade agreement designed to protect the interests
of the largest multi-national corporations at the expense of workers,
consumers, the environment and the foundations of American democracy,”
To read more about Bernie Sanders’ position on the TPP,
check out these links:
Sources:
Democracy Now Lori Wallach: Signing of TPP Marks Only
Beginning of the Fight, Trade Deal Could Still Be Stopped (February
4, 2016)
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/2/4/lori_wallach_signing_of_tpp_marks
Democracy Now Japan Remains Hotbed of TPP Protest as U.S. Tries to Fast-Track Trade
Deal, Crush Environmental Laws
(January 16, 2014)
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/16/japan_remains_hotbed_of_tpp_protest
Dr. P-J Learn More About the TPP
http://drpj.weebly.com/tpp.html
Dr. P-J What Tool Is Being Used by Transnational Corporations
to Control Governmental Decisions? Preemption! [And How Bernie Sanders Is on
the Side of the People]
http://drpj.weebly.com/tpp.html
Flush the TPP TPP Agreement
Reached, Mass Protest in DC Nov. 14th-18th (October 10, 2015)
http://www.flushthetpp.org/tpp-agreement-reached-mass-protest-in-dc-nov-14th-18th/
Fusion The
TPP trade deal hated by the internet got signed last week. A guide for those
that haven’t been paying attention. (February 8, 2016)
http://fusion.net/story/265095/tpp-trans-pacific-partnership-explainer/
Living in Peru TPP:
What's behind the cry of protesters in Peru? (February
8, 2016)
http://www.peruthisweek.com/news-tpp-peru-video-108774
Public Citizen U.S. Polling Shows Strong Opposition to More of the
Same U.S. Trade Deals from Independents, Republicans and Democrats Alike (July 2015)
https://www.citizen.org/documents/polling-memo.pdf
Radio New Zealand The TPP protest - how it unfolded (February 9, 2016)
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/295695/the-tpp-protest-how-it-unfolded
Summitzine World leaders, protesters on Maui for TPP Summit (July 27, 2015)
http://www.summitzine.com/posts/world-leaders-protesters-on-maui-for-tpp-summit/
The Guardian Berlin anti-TTIP trade deal protest attracts hundreds of thousands (October 10, 2015)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/10/berlin-anti-ttip-trade-deal-rally-hundreds-thousands-protesters
The New England Journal of Medicine The
Trans-Pacific Partnership — Is It Bad for Your Health? (July 16,
2015)
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1506158
The New York
Times Americans’
Views on Income Inequality and Workers’ Rights (June 3, 2015)
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/06/03/business/income-inequality-workers-rights-international-trade-poll.html
The Real News Japanese Movement Against TPP Growing (May 7, 2013)
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&It
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