Trans-Pacific Partnership and Fast Track Powerpoint

Exposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership

For What it Really Is

Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch

To ensure that all citizens are represented in the halls of power.

Congress WatchEnergy Program

Global Trade Watch Health Research Group

Litigation Group

A) Transferring Production Plan – Offshoring U.S. manufacturing jobs and production to Vietnam and China

B) Taking People’s Power – Establishing corporate tribunals to raid our tax dollars if environmental and health laws undermine "expected future profits"

C) Totally Poisonous Provisions – Importing food that does not meet U.S. safety standards

D) Terribly Pricy Pharmaceuticals – Allowing Big Pharma to increase drug prices even more

E) Trashing Procurement Preferences – Banning “Buy America”

F) Trans-Pacific Partnership – All of the above

Let’s Take a PollWhat does TPP Stand for?

Meet the Trans-Pacific Partnership

“Free Trade Agreement”

A Corporate Power Tool of Unprecedented Power

Brief History of the Trans Pacific Partnership’s Origins

Shortly after passage of NAFTA (1993), the Clinton administration initiated talks for NAFTA-style “free trade” blocs in the Asian-Pacific and Western hemisphere:

- Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) FTA

- Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)

APEC FTA and FTAA unravel as major countries in each region came to loggerheads over the pacts’ scope and model (NAFTA’s results reveal problems, U.S. insists on expanding NAFTA model).

“Coalitions of the willing” in each region ink NAFTA-style pacts.

- “Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement” (Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore)- Central America Free Trade Agreement

(CAFTA)

U.S. corporations – chronic job offshorers, agribusiness monopolists, Big Pharma, Wall Street push for U.S. to join the Asian Pacific NAFTA…

How the U.S. Became Engaged in the Trans-Pacific Partnership

• Sept. 2008, Bush notified Congress U.S. will join the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (Australia, Peru and Vietnam join).

• In 2009, Obama pledged inclusive review, but real review never done. Nov. 2009, Obama surprised Congress by announcing U.S. will “engage” in TPP.

• The TPP missed December 2011 and end-of-2012 negotiating deadlines.

• Oct. 2012, Mexico & Canada join.

• In an October 2012 presidential debate, Obama described the TPP as part of a strategy to counter China, exert U.S. influence in Asia.

• Jan. 2013 State of the Union: Obama declared the TPP and a new trade agreement with the European Union as priorities for his 2013 trade agenda.

• Japan joins in July 2013.

• Today, 16 rounds of TPP negotiations have been held. The U.S. and 11 other countries are now involved.

Deadline for Completion: October 2013

NAFTA, WTO, CAFTA, KORUS, Now TPP - WTF!!??

Not Really About “Trade” Rather, a system of Enforceable Global Governance By, For and Of Large Corporations

Corporate coup d’etat by trade agreement…

“Each Member shall ensure the conformity of its laws, regulations and administrative procedures with its obligations as provided in the annexed

Agreements.” – Agreement Establishing the WTO

• Most of the rules have nothing to do with trade - but rather reach behind the border to impose constraints on a vast array of domestic non-trade policies.

• Binding Dispute Resolution: Rules enforced in foreign tribunals. Countries must gut their laws. Trade sanctions imposed. U.S. taxpayers must compensate foreign corporations. No due process. No outside appeals.

“We are writing the constitution for a single global economy." -Renato Ruggerio, first Director General of WTO

20 Years of NAFTA, WTO Corporate-Managed Trade Agreements

Over 5 million U.S. manufacturing jobs gone, as well as electrical, retooling, and other jobs that supported them.

45,000 U.S. manufacturing facilities gone. Millions of service sector jobs offshored – call centers, computer

programming, engineering jobs. Real median wages at 1972 levels. Tax bases shrink: schools, infrastructure cut. Construction unemployment high. Floods of unsafe imported food, products. Environmental, health, zoning laws attacked in foreign trade tribunals & dumped. Millions paid to corporations in fines. Medicine prices up. Displacement, migration, hunger in developing country trade

partners.

Trans-Pacific Partnership: Negotiating Countries

Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico,

New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, U.S., Vietnam

THE TPP IS A “DOCKING” AGREEMENT OPEN TO ANY COUNRTY THAT AGREES TO ITS TERMS

Trans-Pacific Partnership is Not a Trade Agreement, but a Binding International

Governance System…And Those Living with the Results Have No

Say

• Unlike domestic legislation, the Trans-Pacific Partnership would have no expiration date.

• If the Trans-Pacific Partnership is implemented, the rules can only be changed if all parties agree.

• Each signatory government must conform its domestic policies to the terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Thus, the TPP would impose permanent boundaries on domestic federal and state policymaking.

Most of Trans-Pacific Partnership is not about “Trade” but Covers Many Matters

Under State AuthorityNon-Trade Chapters-Government Procurement -Investment -Services -Financial Services -Telecommunications -E-commerce -Intellectual Property -Visas/Temporary Movement of Natural Persons-Regulatory Coherence -Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (food standards, animal disease, invasive species) -Technical Barriers (product safety standards, toxics, labeling) -Competition Policy-State Owned Enterprises -Supply Chains-Labor -Environment-"Transparency" (drug formularies)

Trade Chapters-Market Access for Goods -Customs -Trade Facilitation and Capacity Building -Trade Remedies (Anti-dumping/CVD)-Subsidies

Administrative Chapters-Initial Provisions -Exceptions -Dispute Settlement -Final Provisions

Trans-Pacific Partnership is a Trojan Horse for non-trade policies, many of which were rejected in state

legislatures and Congress• Limits on our Internet freedom

Congress rejected in 2011 with SOPA.

• Greater property rights for foreign investors than domestic firms.

• State laws subject to direct challenge in foreign tribunals by foreign investors.

• Limits on financial, liquefied natural gas and other service sector regulations. • U.S. must import food that does not

meet U.S. standards, undermining U.S. producers.

• “Buy American”, “Buy Local” procurement preferences forbidden.

• “Transparency” chapter would allow pharmaceutical firms to challenge drug-price decisions by Medicare, Medicaid, VA formularies.

More Power to Corporations: “Investor-State Dispute Resolution”

Directly attack governments before foreign tribunals demanding our tax dollars to compensate loss of “expected future profits” from labor, environmental, health, safety, land use, and zoning laws.

Skirt domestic courts. Cases are decided by 3 corporate lawyers who rotate between suing governments for corporations & being “judges.”

The Trans-Pacific Partnership would empower corporations to:

- There is no outside appeal! If a country loses they must pay our tax dollars to foreign corporations.

- Over $365 million in public funds paid under NAFTA alone - $13 billion in pending corporate claims.

Investor-State Dispute Resolution: A threat to our sovereignty and solvency

Epidemic of Corporate Bandits Raiding our Treasuries Using

Investor-State

Most Secretive Trade Negotiation, Ever…• Over 600-plus corporate advisors have access to and

influence over the draft text.

• Congress just got “access” to the Trans-Pacific Partnership draft text, but they cannot talk about what they read, take notes or have any of their staff present.

• State legislators, governors, press and public are locked out.

• Other countries know U.S. government positions, just not us.

• What we know about the Trans-Pacific Partnership is from texts that were leaked to the public.

• Negotiating texts won’t be released until 4 years after TPP takes effect or talks collapse.

• Growing congressional anger about extreme secrecy. - GOP House Oversight Chair Darrell Issa denied observer status to San Diego round. - Democratic Chair of Senate Finance Committee denied access to draft texts.

“This is the least transparent trade negotiation I have ever seen.”

-Former U.S. trade official Gary Horlick, a TPP supporter

Incentives to Offshore American Jobs

• Leaked text shows that the Trans-Pacific Partnership would provide special rights, protections for firms to offshore investments and jobs (“guaranteed minimum standard of treatment”, government compensation for regulatory costs).

• The Trans-Pacific Partnership would remove the risks associated with offshoring to low-wage countries. Corporations would not have to rely on domestic courts, but enforce their new privileges in international tribunals.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership includes Vietnam, the low wage alternative to China, and would be open to other extremely low wage offshoring venues.- China’s average wage rate = $4.11 per day. Manufacturing wage in Vietnam is $2.75 PER DAY, in Indonesia $2.81 and $1.84 in Cambodia.

The U.S. has lost 5 million manufacturing jobs (1 of every 4) since NAFTA and WTO. Real wages down, costing the average household $2,135 / year.

Bye “Buy American” and “Buy Local”The Trans-Pacific Partnership would:

• Ban “Buy American” policies now used to reinvest our tax dollars in buying U.S. goods.

• Firms in Trans-Pacific Partnership countries would get same access to U.S. government contracts as U.S. firms (e.g. construction projects). Sends our tax dollars offshore.

• U.S. procurement market is 3 times larger than size of the total combined procurement market gained under the Trans-Pacific Partnership, even with Japan.

• Labor and environmental conditions on government contracts subject to challenge (e.g. prevailing wage conditions, renewable energy and “sweat-free” standards).

90% of Democrats, Republicans and Independents support “Buy American.”

New Floods of Unsafe Imported Food• The Trans-Pacific Partnership would

force us to import meat and poultry that does not comply with U.S. safety standards.

• Some countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership have serious shrimp & fish safety issues. High levels of contaminants found in Vietnam’s seafood. Yet, the Food and Drug Administration only inspects less than 1% of seafood imports.

• Under the Trans-Pacific Partnership, food corporations can attack domestic safety standards in foreign tribunals.

• Food labels considered “trade barriers” in recent trade suits.

Higher Medicine Prices for Us, Windfall Profits for Big Pharma

Extended patent monopolies and data exclusivity on lifesaving medications.

Drug firms empowered to challenge medicine pricing for Medicaid, Medicare, VA and national healthcare systems.

Increased costs of drugs for programs such as PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief).

The Trans-Pacific Partnership would give big drug companies new rights and powers. Thus, decreasing

access to affordable medicines.

TPP Financial Deregulation = Banksters’ Delight

The Trans-Pacific Partnership would:• Expose our new Wall Street

regulations to challenge and roll back.

• Prohibit bans on risky financial products, services.

• Undermine “too big to fail” regulations.

• Block taxes on Wall Street speculation (e.g. “Robin Hood tax”)

• Ban capital controls.

The same global financial firms that crashed the global economy in 2009 are at it again with the Trans-Pacific Partnership…

Trans-Pacific Partnership = The Son of SOPA?

Internet Service Providers required to “police” user-activity (i.e. police YOU) and cut people off from access.

Mandatory fines for individuals’ non-commercial copies - treated the same as large scale for-profit copyright violators.

Innovation stifled.

Even temporary “buffer” copies or breaking digital locks to use linux could subject users to fines.

How’d We Lose Control & Get Into this Disaster?

Meet “Fast Track” • U.S. Constitution gives Congress exclusive authority over trade. “Check and balance” created by Founders (1773 Boston Tea Party hangover…).

• For 200 years, Congress set our trade policy and wrote our laws…

Nixon’s 1973 Fast Track was a stealthy tool to grab BOTH powers: vast new power to “diplomatically legislate” and preempt state law too

Five major congressional authorities delegated away

• Power to select trade partners.• Power to set terms, sign deals before Congress votes.• Power to write legislation and skirt congressional

review and amendment to directly submit it for a vote.• Power to override congressional leaders’ control of

House and Senate floor schedules and force votes within 60 days of submission to Congress.

• Legislative luge run: override of normal voting rules - all amendments banned, limited debate.

“Fast Track” Only Needed for Bad AgreementsOf 500+ trade agreements since 1974, Fast Track was only used for 16

of them (Clinton did not have this extreme authority for 6 of his 8 years…).

Fast Track used to force NAFTA, WTO, CAFTA, Korea, Colombia “free trade” agreements into place.

Last delegation of this extreme authority ended in 2007Candidate Obama said he would “replace Fast Track … I will ensure that Congress plays a strong and informed role in our international economic policy and in any future agreements we pursue and in our efforts to amend existing agreements.” Now he’s seeking trade authority…

Will Democrats who dislike Obama’s trade policy and GOP who dislike Obama give him this extreme power few Presidents have had?

The 99% Must Fight Back Against the TPP and Fast Track

Historic Civil-Society VictoriesBattles Won Against Corporate Power-Grabs via “Trade” Agreements

STOPPED: Fast Track in 1998

DERAILED: WTO Expansion: Seattle ‘99 –today!

DERAILED: FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas)

DERAILED: MAI (Multilateral Agreement on Investment)

DERAILED: AFTA, Malaysia, SACU, Thailand, FTAs

The Global Resistance has Begun…

The Global 99% TPP Fight-Back Is On

AIDS Activists in Malaysia Speak Out

The Global 99% TPP Fight-Back Is On

Japan: TPP-Opponents Deliver Thousands of Petitions

The Global 99% TPP Fight-Back Is On

Australia: Occupy Melbourne Hounds Negotiators

American 99% Fight-Back is Growing

Protests in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Diego and San Francisco

Protests at TPP Negotiations in Leesburg, VA

What You Don’t Know Will Hurt You

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