What is being bargained away behind closed doors by the trade deal that the U.S. Trade Representative is heading to Hawaii this weekend to negotiate with 8 Pacific Rim countries?
Answer:
- Affordable medicine
- being self-governing democracy
- Regulation of banks, insurance and securities firms
- All of the above
While over 600 corporate representatives have access to negotiation texts and an inside track, the public, press and Congress is locked out of these major trade negotiations.
Unlock the secrets and get informed.
World leaders are meeting this week in Honolulu at the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings. One of the agenda items will be the Trans-Pacific FTA talks. This prospective trade deal would include the United States, Chile, Peru, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and possibly Japan. These talks have been cloaked in secrecy since negotiations began in 2008 under George W. Bush. Yes, this is one that Obama is now supposed to negotiate, but Bush started it — another NAFTA-style deal.
At the September 2011 Chicago Trans-Pacific FTA talks, negotiators admitted that they signed a secrecy pact that forbids access to texts for up to four years after a deal is signed or the talks end. Members of Congress, journalists and citizens are all denied the opportunity to look at the texts that will impact their daily lives, until it is too late to do anything to change the deal.
Access to Affordable Medicines
Last month, leaked texts showed that outrageous new privileges are being given to Big Pharma to jack up medicine prices. And it’s coming from US negotiators. This includes letting Big Pharma challenge the type of drug formularies that are used to keep down drug prices and the dismantling of Pharmac. For cash-strapped states, these formularies can save states up to 50 percent on the cost of medications.
Regulation of the Financial System
As people gather in the streets to protest against Wall Street and the financial institutions that have bankrupted America, the Banksters want to use the Trans-Pacific FTA to escape regulation and get back to business as usual. We know that extreme deregulation texts from before the financial crisis are the starting point for these negotiations. Those texts prohibit bans of risky financial products and services and limits on ”too big to fail” institutions.
The Trade Deal Heard Round the World
Everyday citizens are banging on the closed doors of the Trans Pacific-FTA negotiations and demanding a fair deal or no deal. Thousands of Japanese protesters took to the streets and submitted 11.7 million signatures to the government to oppose Japan’s potential participation in the Trans-Pacific FTA. In Peru, activists staged a sit-in outside of Trans-Pacific FTA negotiations. This September, hundreds of labor leaders and activist took to the streets in Chicago to demand
A Fair Deal or No Deal!
Now, we are asking for you to get involved and take the first step to open the doors to a new deal on trade.
Text taken from Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch with alterations
This must be avoided.
Follow Jane Kelsey’s advice