Trans Pacific Partnership trade negotiations in Brunei wrap-up - Terri Hall

Trans Pacific Partnership trade negotiations in Brunei wrap-up - Terri Hall:

 "According to Citizens Trade Campaign, these corporate interests are seeking new access to cheap labor (Vietnamese workers are paid one-third that of Chinese workers), the ability to skirt environmental laws, longer drug patents (delaying the production of low-cost generic drugs), financial de-regulation (preventing regulations that could stave off ‘too big to fail’ bailouts), caps on food safety protections (ie – limit liability for pesticides and genetically modified foods), concentration and hence control of global food supplies (making ‘buy local’ initiatives harder), and tax advantages.

First implemented under President Richard Nixon, fast track “trade promotion authority”  is a trade negotiation and approval process designed to keep the terms of trade agreements out of the hands of the public and its elected representatives and into the hands of an un-elected trade representative and private corporations. This will allow the TPP to be signed before the public can see or scrutinize it. Fast track rules allow such trade agreements to be rushed through Congress and bypass normal Congressional review."