Several people staged a protest of the TPP while government officials met in Windsor Ontario earlier this year to discuss the controversial trade deal.

Several people staged a protest of the TPP while government officials met in Windsor Ontario earlier this year to discuss the controversial trade deal.
Photo Credit: Dale Molnar/CBC

Major trade deal, TPP- not quite dead

US President-elect Donald Trump has loudly denounced international trade deals and said the US would not be signing the 12-nation Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Many thought that with that announcement the deal would be dead. But several nations have said they want it to continue even without the US as major player.

This has many advocacy and environmental groups concerned, as they feel that such trade deals do more harm than good to the lives of ordinary citizens.

Maude Barlow is national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, a citizens rights and environmental advocacy group.

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Maude Barlow speaking in May against the TISA international services agreement
Maude Barlow speaking in May against the TISA international services agreement © Matthias Scheurer, vpod Regionalsekretär

At the recent APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit, trade was a major deal including the TPP deal of which many APEC nations have signed on.

Canada’s position in favour of the deal has not changed under Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Japan’s Ambassodor to Canada, Kenjiro Monji said earlier, he hoped many nations would ratify the TPP and thereby send a signal to the incoming US government.

“We don’t think it’s completely dead” he said.

However, Ms. Barlow says a large segment of the world’s population is against these international trade deals. She points to CETA, the Canada-EU deal, saying that over 80 percent of Germans were opposed and over 60 percent of the French.

In an email, Sujata Dey,  trade campaigner for the Council of Canadians  wrote to RCI saying, “TPP is a magna carta for reducing our ability to set our own public policy and is damaging for democracy.  It gives corporations the right to sue governments when they make policy decisions that get in the way of their profit.  It raises drugs prices, it could destroy 58,000 jobs, and it works against people and the planet. Negotiated in secret, TISA is a another agreement much like TPP. From leaks, we can see already that it is worrisome: directly attacking public services, for example”.

Farmers from tsunami-hit Miyagi Prefecture shout a slogan against a Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2011. Japan, like Canada, is presently pushing for the deal to coninue even if it is without the US
Farmers from Miyagi Prefecture shout a slogan against a Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2011. Japan, like Canada, is presently pushing for the deal to continue with TPP even if it is without the US © Shizuo Kambayashi/The Associated Pres

Maude Barlow also says under NAFTA, Canada is facing over 2.5 billion dollars worth of lawsuits from American companies over Canadian environmental protection laws which apparently infringe on their profits.

“The promise of these trade agreements is a lie”. M Barlow

According to Maude Barlow, most of the world’s trade tariffs have already been lowered previously, and these major deals are more about creating better international conditions for multinational corporations.

She also says that the multinationals and the corporate agenda is so powerful that politicians once getting into power realize they should play along with the system.

Ms Barlow says here organization will continue to lobby the Canadian government to negotiate trade deals which benefit people and not multi-national corporations.

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Categories: Economy, Environment & Animal Life, International, Politics
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