Is TPP trade deal a massive giveaway to corporations? An exchange between Obama and Sherrod Brown
By Greg Sargent
One way to make sense of the bewilderingly complex debate over the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal — which involves a dozen countries around the Pacific and could impact some 40 percent of U.S. trade — is to understand that there are a number of separate arguments about it proceeding on different tracks.
There’s the argument over whether the deal’s higher labor standards will even be enforceable for countries such as Vietnam. There’s the argument over whether more import competition will further weaken American manufacturing, or whether lowering tariffs abroad will strengthen American exports. There’s the argument over whether TPP’s intellectual property rules will primarily benefit Big Pharma and major corporations. There’s the argument over whether the “fast track” process is legitimate.
And this is one of the most contentious arguments of all: The debate over the TPP’s Investor-State Dispute Settlement provision. The ISDS, which has drawn high profile criticism from Elizabeth Warren and many others, is a mechanism contained in the deal that would allow for the litigation of disputes between corporations and local governments in a manner designed to create a stable legal environment for investments in participating countries.
more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/04/27/is-tpp-trade-deal-a-massive-giveaway-to-major-corporations-an-exchange-between-obama-and-sherrod-brown/
= new reply since forum marked as read
