[CTC] Activists Eye IPEF and Big Tech at APEC in Seattle this Weekend

Fri Jul 28 08:57:54 PDT 2023

Folks in the Pacific Northwest, please join the petition delivery in Seattle on Sunday or any of these other great events:
https://tradejusticeedfund.org/trade-justice-events-at-the-apec-counter-mobilization-in-seattle/ <https://tradejusticeedfund.org/trade-justice-events-at-the-apec-counter-mobilization-in-seattle/>

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

Politico Morning Trade
July 28, 2023

— Progressive groups this weekend will release a petition urging greater transparency in the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum negotiations as more than 2,000 economic officials – including a handful of Biden’s cabinet members – meet in Seattle over the next few weeks for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

…

AUGUST APEC PUSH: More than 2,000 officials from the 21 member economies of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are expected in Seattle over the next three weeks <https://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2af493a5227058aa7cb4fd5f0eae1c81f4f1da54285b2ca62e20e0a4fc1024f6c100b3a840b69c01265e168ead8d0a7a418b0d2265caa7c0> for meetings on disaster management, finance, food security, health, energy and small and medium-sized enterprises, ahead of the leaders summit in November in San Francisco.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will host their counterparts at separate ministerials set for Aug. 3, 6 and 15. Senior officials, who do the bulk of the work drafting the statements issued by ministers and leaders, begin meeting Saturday.

Matt Murray, the U.S. APEC senior official, will arrive in Seattle early next week after a visit to the Philippines for a meeting of the APEC Business Advisory Council and another stop in Seoul, South Korea, the State Department said.

AT THE MEETING –– ACTIVISTS EYE IPEF AND BIG TECH: Progressive activists are slated to deliver a petition at the APEC meeting in Seattle this weekend to press the Biden administration for greater transparency around the ongoing Indo-Pacific Economic Framework trade negotiations.

“It’s unfair that hundreds of lobbyists representing Big Tech and other corporate special interests have privileged access to Indo-Pacific trade texts, while the public is barred from reviewing what’s being proposed in our names,” said Hillary Haden, organizing director for the Trade Justice Education Fund.

The petition urges trade negotiators to utilize a “transparent and accountable negotiating process that includes the release of draft texts for public review.” It also calls for any final deal to exclude trade rules that could give social media giants the ability to ship, process and store data overseas, evade A.I safeguards or “undermine antitrust and fair competition policies.”

AI report: “For decades, corporations have turned to trade agreements, negotiated behind closed doors, with undo secrecy and hundreds of corporate lobbyists as a backdoor to undermine the public interest,” said Sen. Ed Markey <https://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2af493a5227058aafd136dfb614d4ab0b5b20a9eb32ff5336c73439c306973c84197952f62fec6a3d387dc46892b717aecfe7197e59654ce> (D-Mass.) on Thursday.

He spoke at an event with The American Economic Liberties Project’s Rethink Trade program, which released a report that claims <https://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2af493a5227058aa6d425e38ec6f50522a0b6e8ebc1cc642d72441ebbda94536adf5725bfad182c7ca9328ef3281b6e1c379a9084ed42cc7> digital trade rules favored by the tech industry in international agreements would cripple efforts to effectively regulate the industry.

The report argues including rules that protect companies from having to share source code and other info with governments would derail regulatory efforts on AI since algorithmic transparency is a key part of ensuring systems are safe prior to deployment.

Some background: Congressional Democrats wrote a letter back in April warning that tech and business trade groups <https://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2af493a5227058aa2c84d6fa902c80320b37427854cc537cde9a703d74aeff88901357742f1d369e7742e89493e420985a9d45846f55ca06> want international data rules that the lawmakers say would limit the ability of the U.S. government to regulate some of the industry’s largest companies.

“Big Tech wants to include an overly broad provision that would help large tech firms evade competition policies by claiming that such policies subject these firms to ‘illegal trade discrimination,’” the Democrats wrote.

Google and IBM in November hosted an invitation-only reception for negotiators. Tech industry giants also made an appearance during the Singapore negotiators round in May, per Time magazine <https://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2af493a5227058aaf444f30627626428dbaae45c0f5c38529c1eafedccca59f0c0defae90b0325fe67ba14a602642a57cd8743f94846a25e>.

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