[CTC] Hill Briefing: Fast-Track Trade Authority

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Protests against TPP go global as Malaysian, Japanese groups oppose deal
<http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/04/protests-against-tpp-go-glob
al-as.html> 

 

http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/04/protests-against-tpp-go-globa
l-as.html

 

The list is getting longer of people who oppose the latest job-killing
trade deal -- the TPP -- because it will lower their standard of living
and endanger their lives. It includes Japanese farmers, New Zealand
union members
<http://www.3news.co.nz/Protests-outside-TPP-talks/tabid/421/articleID/2
78982/Default.aspx> , Australian digital rights activists
<http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/main-page/tpp-protest-news-six-articles-exc
erpts> , Malaysian youth, Japanese consumers and American
environmentalists
<http://westorlandonews.com/2013/03/05/unions-activists-protest-against-
trans-pacific-partnership/> . For starters. 

Japanese farmers and consumers most recently joined the outcry against
the TPP, along with Malaysian farmers, environmentalists and human
rights groups.

They are all citizens of a dozen Pacific Rim countries, alarmed about
the treaty because it's being negotiated secretly. Well, except for the
corporate lobbyists who have access to the talks.

The next round of negotiations will take place in Lima, Peru, in May.
Negotiators hope to wrap up the talks by October and then ram them
through their respective legislatures.

Last week the U.S. and Japan announced a deal that would allow Tokyo to
join the talks. That raised alarms among unions, especially the UAW and
the Teamsters, because of the United States' historic trade imbalance
with Japan
<http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/04/teamsters-even-more-skeptica
l-about.html> . Automakers and farmers in both countries are alarmed.

The Japan Times
<http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/04/14/business/tpp-deal-irks-farm
ers-automakers/#.UWw8nLXvsaA>  reports,

Farmers and carmakers alike are airing concerns about the Japan-U.S.
accord reached last week that endorsed Tokyo's participation in the
Trans-Pacific Partnership talks, even as major domestic business lobbies
hailed the move. 

The agricultural sector fears that Japan's entry to the trade
liberalization discussions will result in an influx of bargain-basement
food imports, while automakers are lamenting the bilateral agreement
reached Friday for what they perceive as unequal treatment compared to
their South Korean rivals... 

Kotaro Endo, a 60-year-old rice farmer in Yamagata Prefecture, expressed
distrust of the government, saying he finds it "incomprehensible" that
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided to take part in the multilateral talks
before securing a promise from the U.S. to exclude sensitive items from
tariff elimination... 

The TPP, which aims to create a massive free-trade area among Pacific
Rim economies, is also prompting fears that it may undermine food
safety, as labeling requirements for food additives and genetically
modified items, as well as standards on pesticide residue, could be
relaxed. 

Yasuaki Yamaura, cohead of the Consumers Union of Japan, voiced alarm
over what he sees as the overly rapid preparatory process the government
has engaged in to obtain approval to take part in the TPP talks, saying
consumers and producers have not been sufficiently informed. 

A coalition of Malaysian groups protested the TPP in a letter to the
U.S. Embassy on April 11, a global day of action against free trade
deals. Titled "No to the Trans-Pacific Partnerhip Agreement," the group
wrote:

... the TPPA has come under scrutiny for having very little to do with
trade and very little to do with the interests and welfare of the almost
half-a-billion people in whose name it is being signed... 

* We reject investment provisions that restrict the ability of
governments to act - whether over capital controls, environmental
policies or other public interest measures - without being exposed to
the threat of legal suits by investors. We reject ISDS, in particular,
and insist on the integrity and supremacy in TPPA countries of their
domestic legal and judiciary systems. 

* We reject all TRIPS-plus intellectual property (IP) provisions such as
patent term extensions, data exclusivity, border control measures and
others that negatively affect access to affordable medicines. 

* We reject all proposals in general that negatively affect access to
environmental and climate-friendly technological solutions, threaten
food security as well as the access to and sustainable use of our rich
biological biodiversity and access to knowledge. 

* We demand an end to the secrecy that has shielded the TPPA
negotiations from the scrutiny of national lawmakers and the public.

Stay tuned.

 

Michael F. Dolan, J.D.

Legislative Representative

International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Desk  202.624.6891

Fax    202.624.8973

Cell    202.437.2254

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20130415/6759c685/attachment-0003.htm>