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http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/03/u-s-stalling-could-force-acceptance-of-onerous-tpp/

U.S. “Stalling” Could Force Acceptance of Onerous TPP
By Carey L. Biron

WASHINGTON, Mar 5 2013 (IPS) - Civil society opposition here has  
strengthened against a U.S.-proposed free trade zone that would  
include some dozen countries around the Pacific Rim.

As negotiators head into a 16th round of talks this week in Singapore,  
around 400 organisations are urging the U.S. Congress to demand  
greater transparency in the proceedings.

On Monday, the first day of the negotiations, Medecins Sans Frontieres  
(MSF), a humanitarian group, called on President Barack Obama’s  
administration to “end its stall tactics and revise its proposals for  
what otherwise promises to be the most harmful trade deal ever for  
access to medicines in developing countries.”

Look at who has a seat at the table, with the public shut out and more  
than 600 corporate lobbyists...

The Singapore talks will extend through Mar. 13. Critics say civil  
society and other critical stakeholders have been systematically shut  
out of the negotiations, supplanted by corporate interests.

The proposal, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), currently  
comprises 11 countries (a 12th, Japan, is also contemplating joining).  
But the Obama administration has been clear that if passed, the zone  
would be open-ended in terms of future expansion.

That broad geographical sweep, together with the simultaneous  
negotiation of a lengthy but highly secretive list of contentious  
issues not necessarily related to trade, is leading critics to warn  
that the scope of any pending agreement could negatively impact on  
nearly half the globe.

And with the Obama administration now saying it wants to wrap up the  
negotiations by October, some TPP negotiators are reportedly worried  
that some of the most controversial issues up for discussion are being  
pushed to the very end in an attempt to “run out the clock”.

According to a new brief released by MSF, U.S. TPP negotiators are  
pushing for rules that would “enhance patent and data protections for  
pharmaceutical companies, dismantle public health safeguards enshrined  
in international law and obstruct price-lowering generic competition  
for medicines”.

The result could be restrictions on access to affordable generic  
medicines for “millions” of people.

Related IPS Articles

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Trans-Pacific Trade Talks Grind On

Judit Rius Sanjuan, U.S. manager for MSF’s Access Campaign, says her  
office heard that the last time the TPP negotiations included  
substantive talks on access to medicines was a year ago. At that time,  
nearly all negotiating partners reportedly rejected a draft chapter on  
intellectual property rights, which includes the patent provisions.

And while the White House has stated that it would be resubmitting a  
revised chapter on this issue, Sanjuan says it appears that access to  
medicines is once again not on the agenda this week in Singapore.

“We are hearing from other negotiating teams that the pressure to  
finalise this agreement by October is rising, and they fear that if  
there is not more time for substantive discussion, this chapter could  
stand,” she told IPS.

“We share the concern that this delay in presenting an alternative  
text is a U.S. strategy to focus instead on the less controversial  
chapters and leave behind debate over access to medicines. But doing  
so would have huge consequences for developing countries.”

In fact, imposing these types of new restrictions would run counter to  
previous international agreements and national legislation under which  
Washington has pledged to expand access to generic medicines.

Any restriction in access to such medicines would also affect the  
United States’ own global health goals. According to Sanjuan, generics  
make up some 98 percent of the medicines used by PEPFAR, the United  
States’ flagship anti-HIV/AIDS programme and the world’s largest.

Half the world

Global health wouldn’t be the only sector impacted by the TPP’s  
passage. Also on Monday, coinciding with the first day of negotiations  
in Singapore, around 400 groups from a broad range of backgrounds sent  
an open letter to the U.S. Congress opposing the abnormally secretive  
way in which negotiations for the trade area have been run.

“This agreement will impact on how trade and investment are conducted  
in the Pacific Rim for decades, yet the ramifications aren’t fully  
understood even by people who know about the TPP,” Arthur Stamoulis,  
executive director of the Washington-based Citizens Trade Campaign, an  
advocacy group, and an organiser of the letter, told IPS.

“This is an agreement that wouldn’t just affect the economy and  
sustainability in these 11 countries, but has the potential to impact  
the economy and environment for literally half the world.”

In lieu of official consultation, the groups are offering  
recommendations for draft language on issues from environmental  
standards and human and labour rights to financial regulation and  
national sovereignty. Yet the central complaint has to do with lack of  
oversight and transparency.

“We find it troubling that … U.S. negotiators still refuse to inform  
the American public what they have been proposing,” the letter states.  
“Shielding not only proposals but agreed-upon texts from public view  
until after negotiations have concluded and the pact is finalized is  
not consistent with democratic principles.”

The groups are calling for an opening-up of the talks to both the U.S.  
Congress and the public at large. They’re also urging lawmakers not to  
authorise new “fast track” powers that would allow the president to  
send Congress trade pacts for straight votes without the possibility  
of amendments.

Free trade advocates tend to suggest that such powers are necessary to  
get other countries to agree to large-scale trade agreements in the  
first place, but President Obama had allowed the “fast track”  
legislation to lapse. On Friday, however, the administration’s new  
trade policy agenda noted that the president would work with Congress  
to re-authorise that authority.

The administration has used similar concerns to rationalise the high  
level of secrecy surrounding the negotiations, saying that greater  
transparency would upset delicate discussions.

Yet critics point out that draft trade texts at this point in  
negotiations are often made public, including by the World Trade  
Organisation. Similar precedent exists from the Free Trade Area of the  
Americas, the trade zone agreed to in 2001 covering 34 countries,  
including the United States.

“There’s a real reason why the draft has been kept secret from the  
U.S. public – Americans wouldn’t support a huge amount of the agenda  
that the [Obama administration] has been pushing,” Citizens Trade’s  
Stamoulis says.

“If they were to negotiate an agreement that put human rights ahead of  
corporate profit, creating more just and sustainable social policy,  
the TPP could be a tool for incredible good. But if you look at who  
has a seat at the table, with the public shut out and more than 600  
corporate lobbyists included, there is nothing to indicate that’s the  
deal we’re going to get.”
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