What is TPP?So most of you if have been keeping eyes on the world trade would notice the creation and negotiation of a trade agreement called the Trans Pacific Partnership, composing of 12 countries.
1.Australia
2.Brunei
3.Canada
4.Chile
5.Japan
6.Malaysia
7.Mexico
8.New Zealand
9.Peru
10.Singapore
11.United States
12.Vietnam
The agreement although composing of small number of countries does include some major economic powers, with the first being United State, and the Asian Tiger Singapore. The secrecy of the negotiations has drawn many critics mainly due to unknown nature of the talks. With two more Asian Tigers showing interest one being South Korea and the second being Taiwan. The main talking points are as below:
Main GoalsComprehensive market access by eliminating tariffs and other barriers to goods and services trade and investment, so as to create new opportunities for our workers and businesses and immediate benefits for our consumers.
A fully regional agreement by facilitating the development of production and supply chains among TPP members, which will support the goals of job creation, improving living standards and welfare, and promoting sustainable growth among member countries.
Cross-cutting trade issues by building on work being done in APEC and other fora by incorporating four new cross-cutting issues in the TPP. These issues are:
Regulatory coherence: Commitments will promote trade between the countries by making trade among them more seamless and efficient.
Competitiveness and business facilitation: Commitments will enhance the domestic and regional competitiveness of each member country's economy and promote economic integration and jobs in the region, including through the development of regional production and supply chains.
Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Commitments will address concerns small- and medium-sized businesses have raised about the difficulty in understanding and using trade agreements, encouraging these sized enterprises to trade internationally.
Development: Comprehensive and robust market liberalisation, improvements in trade and investment enhancing disciplines, and other commitments will serve to strengthen institutions important for economic development and governance and thereby contribute significantly to advancing TPP countries' respective economic development priorities.
New trade challenges by promoting trade and investment in innovative products and services, including the digital economy and green technologies, and to ensure a competitive business environment across the TPP region.
Living agreement by enabling the updating of the agreement when needed to address trade issues that materialise in the future as well as new issues that arise with the expansion of the agreement to include new countries.
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Criticism and OppositionA number of issues though have been brought up mainly as below and many disagreements exist the most notable:
Intellectual Property Rights:There has been many issues with this section of the TPP, especially with America's push on placing it's intellectual property laws onto other countries most notably Korea that go far beyond the Korean-US Trade Agreement. With another fear being how the laws could effect the availability of medication in the lower and less prosperous countries and their citizens.
Though much information is not available other than the leaked documents the section covers an array of topics that include
agreement's discussions thus far have included trademark, geographical indication, copyright and related rights, patents, trade secrets, genetic resources, and traditional knowledge.
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Investor State ArbitrationAccording to some interpretation some of the laws could force signatories to adapt their domestic laws to conform with the TPP, thus decreasing their control over law making and how they spend their taxes. The biggest concern was that the US were pushing for a Investor State Dispute Settlement Mechanism mainly a Corporate Tribunal[2], where a nations domestic laws can be challenged by corporations. Although this mechanism is common in many trade agreements.
The biggest critics though say that the system would affect a number of laws including environmental, human rights and public welfare regulations. With fears that the laws can force states to lower their standards from what they originally were set at. The biggest fear is that the provision would give corporations the ability to sue countries for lost revenue at the taxpayers expense.
Other than the above stated concerns some of the still existing concerns were that the Japanese Auto Tariff would remain in place although the trade agreement was supposed to remove all tariffs and the fear of currency manipulation.
On the other hand there is another FTA that is right now growing called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP) composing of a number of nations most notably China, and India also including some of the states that are also involved in the TPP talks.
Why did i make a thread about thisCause i was wondering how you guys feel with this new partnership and is it a good idea and should be focused in this trade agreement and what should be removed.
Also if you want to here is the Trade Minister's report to their Leaders a 4 page document for your own reading.
LinkAlso posted in the sources.
Sources:
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[2][url=http://www.thenation.com/article/168627/nafta-steroids#]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership_intellectual_property_provisions#cite_note-6[/ur]
[2][url]http://www.thenation.com/article/168627/nafta-steroids#]http://www.thenation.com/article/168627/nafta-steroids#]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership_intellectual_property_provisions#cite_note-6[/ur]
[2][url]http://www.thenation.com/article/168627/nafta-steroids#[3]
https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/tpp%20trade%20ministers%20report%20to%20leaders%2010082013.pdf
Trans Pacific Partnership