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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=navy face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:navy'>TPP as Backdoor <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Colombia</st1:place></st1:country-region> FTA?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:navy'><a
href="http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2010/03/tpp-as-backdoor-colombia-fta.html">http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2010/03/tpp-as-backdoor-colombia-fta.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:navy'>March 22, 2010<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h2><b><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Trebuchet MS";font-weight:normal'>In Australia last week, the
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) participated in the first round
of the talks of the Obama administration for the Trans-Pacific Partnership
(TPP) agreement (the Bush administration already had three rounds of talks in
2008 with Chile, New Zealand, Brunei, and Singapore before the TPP process
expanded to include Australia, Peru, and Vietnam). The USTR revealed little
about what was discussed last week in its <a
href="http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/press-releases/2010/march/ustr-negotiators-report-successful-first-round-trans">statement
announcing the conclusion of this round of talks</a>, but there was one
intriguing bit of information that flew under the radar of most of the news
media covering the TPP talks. The Foreign Minister of Colombia, Jaime
Bermudez, was in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on"><ST1:PLACE u1:st="on">Australia</st1:place></st1:country-region></ST1:PLACE></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>
from Wednesday to Saturday of last week for meetings with Australian officials. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h2>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><a
href="http://citizen.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83452507269e201310fcc7d85970c-pi"><span
style='text-decoration:none'><img border=0 width=330 height=247
id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CACA7B.8C58F9F0"
alt="Colombia_and_Australia_Foreign_Ministers"
class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83452507269e201310fcc7d85970c "
title="Colombia_and_Australia_Foreign_Ministers"></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>The
Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, hinted that <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on"><ST1:PLACE u1:st="on">Colombia</st1:place></st1:country-region></ST1:PLACE></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>
could join the TPP process in <a
href="http://www.foreignminister.gov.au/transcripts/2010/100318_colombia.html">a
joint press conference with Bermudez</a>:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Trebuchet MS"'>But the other important matter we discussed, and the [Foreign]
Minister [of Colombia, Jaime Bermudez,] will have a conversation, a detailed
conversation with [Australian Minister for Trade] Simon Crean about this, of
course we saw this week, a very important trade Asia Pacific initiative, with
the start of the Trans Pacific Partnership discussions. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Trebuchet MS"'>Currently we have four members of the TPP, we now have eight
countries involved in those discussions. The [Foreign] Minister [of <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on">Colombia</st1:country-region></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>]
is going to have a detailed discussion with Simon Crean, but of course there is
also some rationale, given that in the TPP we find <st1:country-region w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on">Chile</st1:country-region></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>
a member, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on"><ST1:PLACE u1:st="on">Peru</st1:place></st1:country-region></ST1:PLACE></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>,
one of the negotiating eight. There is a rationale for <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on"><ST1:PLACE u1:st="on">Colombia</st1:place></st1:country-region></ST1:PLACE></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>
also putting itself forward in due course for that, and we're looking forward
to a good conversation between Simon Crean and the Minister on that front as
well.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>The
possible entry of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on"><ST1:PLACE u1:st="on">Colombia</st1:place></st1:country-region></ST1:PLACE></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>
into the TPP illustrates the unprecedented nature of the TPP. The TPP
negotiating partners, including the USTR, envision structuring the TPP so that
countries could join the agreement more or less at will after its
implementation. According to a December 15, 2009 article in <em><i><font
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>Inside U.S. Trade</span></font></i></em>,
the USTR already “has extended an invitation” to <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on">Malaysia</st1:country-region></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>,
and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on"><ST1:PLACE u1:st="on">Korea</st1:place></st1:country-region></ST1:PLACE></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>
to join the TPP before or after talks conclude. <O:P> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>The
potential for expanding the TPP to include more countries after the agreement
is finalized creates huge concerns about its impact on democracy and
sovereignty. Congress has already told the USTR that <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on"><ST1:PLACE u1:st="on">Colombia</st1:place></st1:country-region></ST1:PLACE></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>
must address concerns about its very poor human and labor rights record (among
other issues) before the Colombia FTA can be reconsidered. Could an
automatic expansion process in the TPP bind the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>
to a trade agreement with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on"><ST1:PLACE u1:st="on">Colombia</st1:place></st1:country-region></ST1:PLACE></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>
without Congress ever voting on it? What about a trade agreement with <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on">Burma</st1:country-region></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>
or <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION u1:st="on"><ST1:PLACE u1:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region></ST1:PLACE></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION>? <O:P>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>If
there will be a possibility of allowing countries into the TPP after it is
implemented, the USTR must ensure that the approval process for any new
proposed TPP partners is exactly the same as it is for a new trade agreement
outside of the TPP, including a vote on the floors of the House and
Senate. The TPP should also include a democracy clause that would require
TPP parties to have democratic forms of government so that we do not have a
repeat of the <a
href="http://citizen.typepad.com/.m/eyesontrade/2009/12/trade-preferences-suspended-in-the-name-of-democracy.html">Honduras-CAFTA
debacle of last year</a>. Otherwise, the TPP could take us down a dangerous
road where we could be stuck with trade agreements with some very unsavory
governments.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<!-- technorati tags -->
<p class=entry-footer><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>Posted by Travis McArthur at 6:02pm in <a
href="http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/andean_and_panama_ftas/">Andean
and Panama FTAs</a> , <a
href="http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/asian_ftas/">Asian FTAs</a> , <a
href="http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/cafta/">CAFTA</a> | <a
href="http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2010/03/tpp-as-backdoor-colombia-fta.html">Permalink</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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