The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a trade agreement between several Pacific Rim countries concerning a variety of matters of economic policy.
Members - Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Chile, USA, Australia, Peru, Vietname, Malaysia, Mexico, Canada, Japan, Columbia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea.
Possible Future Members - Cambodia, Bangaldesh, India.
- Lower trade barriers primarily by lifting tariffs and freeing up trade.
- Lower tariffs.
- Enforce standard environmental laws.
- Enforce labor laws.
- Establish a common framework for intellectual property.
- Establish an investor state dispute settlement mechanism.
For It - Barak Obama
Against It - Trump, Ford Motors, Bernie Sanders, Tobacco Industry*
Undecided - Hilary Clinton
*The tobacco industry would be unable to use the dispute settlement mechanism in order to challenge countries where smoking or the sale of tobacco is illegal.
Serves the interests of the wealthiest by effectively creating a race to the bottom in labor markets. Lowering both domestic and foreign wages, destroying manufacturing and service jobs.
Prevents the already broken domestic intellectual property laws from being reformed. Expands copyright terms, which means lengthening the time before a work can enter into the public domain. Restricts fair use. Adopts criminal sanctions against copyright infringment for non commerical gain. Places a greater liability on the internet mediators (search engines, torrent sites). Escalates protections for digital locks, this means purchasing digital goods, and not actually owning the purchase. Creates new threats to whistleblowers and journalists, through vagues terms in which someone can be punished for misuse of trade secrets.
Julian Asange states that the proposed enivronmental law standards are a "toothless public relations exercise with no enforcement mechanism.
The terms were largely drafted in secret and leaked to the public through wikileaks. The excuse was that the partnering countries would be unable to speak on some of the issues without the secrecy due to their sensitive nature.