The TPP is a huge deal, but the negotiations haven’t gotten much attention as they deserve. So here’s a primer: The TPP is a free trade agreement, first proposed in 2006, which has grown to encompass 12 Pacific Rim countries – Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam. The TPP covers far more ground than most ‘trade’ agreements, containing 29 chapters dealing with topics from the environment and labor to pharmaceuticals. [...] If the United States enters into a free trade agreement with Japan, there will be tremendous market pressure to frack more in the US in order to send natural gas to Japan. Passage of the TPP would open further avenues for corporations to drag local, state, and national governments into trade tribunals over ‘damages’. Let’s say your state legislators passed a law banning fracking? Under the TPP, ExxonMobil would be able to sue your state. And the case won’t go before a US judge or be subject to laws passed by US legislators. Rather, it would go before an investor-state dispute resolution panel. The crux of the matter wouldn’t be whether the air is clean, but whether Chevron’s share prices will go up or down...
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 20:03:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015