Currently, there are three global trade agreements that are causing intense global trade debates. The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), and the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA).
The TPP is a 12-nation trade pact that includes the US, Japan, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Peru, Brunei Darussalam, New Zealand, Chile, Singapore, Vietnam and Mexico. While the TTIP is in EU.
If it goes through it would be the biggest free trade agreement in history. It would set a “Gold Standard†for deregulation and investor rights thus removing government regulatory controls.
The TPP claims it is to counterbalance China’s efforts to create its own trade bloc in Asia.
However, the deal has drawn oppositions from various circles. Accordingly, for many years, trade negotiations were conducted behind closed doors. Taxpayers and the public are not consulted.
Critics are disturbed that the negotiating committees are controlled by industry organizations and multinational corporations while environmental, human rights, labor and public advocacy groups are rarely included.
Reports say, the medical community and some of the brightest intellectuals in the world are alarmed by these secret global trade agreements.
The more people seem to know about these trade deals, the more they dislike it. There is a deep concern that these deals no longer have much to do with trade, but about restraining the ability of governments to control in the public interest.
Advocates see the trade deals as unconstitutional and likely to destroy small businesses. Vital rights that protect citizens and the environment are considered as “trade barriers”.
Accordingly, these trade deals promote the interests of global corporations and economic elites. It is not intended to share fortune or raise wages nor have the public interest in mind.
It remains doubtful if elected government officials against pressure from corporate interests will stand in defense of the rights of ordinary citizens.
In the 19th century Britain, the case for free trade was not only to promote economic prosperity but also peace.
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Tidbits:
Through the ITF, Senegalese and Turkish trade unions have been in touch with the crew of the Turkish-owned and -flagged Yilmaz Ayanoglu, who have been abandoned with no electricity and dwindling provisions, and are organising supplies to the crew at their anchorage.
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In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt (By Edgar Allan J. Tac-an)