[CTC] Colombia Seeking FTA Implementation Date From Obama At Summit

[Gimena Sanchez]

For Immediate  
Release 
:                                                                                                                                Contact 
: Arden Manning (202) 454-5108
April 10, 2012
U.S. Abandons Final Pretense of Transparency or Inclusion of Consumer,  
Health, Environmental, Labor Perspective in Trans-Pacific Partnership  
(TPP) Talks

WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. trade officials have quietly cut stakeholder  
presentations from the next set of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)  
agreement negotiations, eliminating the last pretense that the process  
of the talks is transparent and inclusive and sending a message that  
only the views of the 600 official corporate trade advisors provided  
special access to the talks will be reflected in the final deal,  
Public Citizen said today. At previous TPP negotiating rounds, a day  
was set aside for civil society groups and others with concerns about  
the TPP to make presentations to negotiators.

“The message is clear: From now on, not only will the talks remain  
behind closed doors, but all pretense of consideration of consumer  
safety, health, environmental or labor concerns has been thrown out in  
favor of ensuring that the damning record of past U.S. trade pacts use  
of the same terms being pushed by the U.S. for TPP are not brought  
into the discussion,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s  
Global Trade Watch.

“The stakeholder presentations were the only vestige of transparency  
in these TPP talks,” Wallach said. “Many negotiators from other  
countries have told me that the stakeholder process was very valuable  
because it provided detailed information on the problems caused by  
past U.S. trade agreements (and on how they have actually worked) that  
was not generally available and certainly not being shared by U.S.  
negotiators, who generally have promoted positions promoted by  
industry interests.”

                 Indeed, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently noted  
on its website that it had “led the business community’s advocacy for  
U.S.negotiators to include strong disciplines in the TPP trade  
agreement on intellectual property and path-breaking new rules on  
regulatory coherence, due process in antitrust enforcement and state- 
owned enterprises. In these and other areas, U.S. negotiators have  
proposed negotiating text that hews close to the chamber’s  
recommendations.”

Public Citizen earlier this month joined with other public interest  
groups from the nine TPP countries to demand that the draft TPPtext be  
released. Negotiating texts for past deals have been released, such as  
for the Free Trade Area of the Americas in 2001. Currently, more than  
600 official corporate trade advisors have access – to which the press  
and public are denied. Indeed, TPP countries signed an agreement in  
2010 to not release negotiating texts until four years after a deal is  
completed or negotiations abandoned.

To date, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk has refused to  
release any draft TPP text, despite repeated calls from civil society  
groups for more than a year. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chair of  
the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on Trade, has led  
congressional efforts to make the process more transparent. Wyden told  
Oregon Live, “When international accords, like ACTA, are conceived and  
constructed under a cloak of secrecy, it is hard to argue that they  
represent the broad interests of the general public.”

“USTR’s response to the request by civil society groups and Sen. Wyden  
to see draft texts of a massive agreement that will rewrite wide  
swaths of U.S. non-trade law has been to slam the door shut, instead  
of opening up the process and making it more transparent,” said Wallach.
The fallout from the U.S. decision already has begun. In response, New  
Zealand civil society groups have called on their government to“pull  
the plug” and walk away from the TPP talks. The TPP negotiations cover  
issues ranging from banning Buy America policies, to curbing Internet  
freedom, to providing offshoring incentives and special rights for  
corporations to attack U.S. laws in foreign tribunals.

“You can only assume that the TPP would not survive the light of day,  
and that is why the U.S. public is being denied access to details and  
now civil society groups are being sidelined,” Wallach said. “The  
Obama administration declares itself the most transparent  
administration ever, and President Barack Obama campaigned on  
transparency in government. It’s time he put those words into action.”  
The next round of TPP talks will take place May 8-18 at the  
InterContinental Dallas hotel in Addison, Texas.
###

Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization  
based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please  
visitwww.citizen.org.


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