Ever heard of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact?

There’s been a scuttle of congressional activity surrounding what one newspaper has said “may be one of the most important stories ever ignored by the media.”

But it’s not entirely the media’s fault. Nearly everyone — the press, members of Congress, the public — have been in the dark about the specifics of a massive trade pact that’s currently in the works. The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, or TPP, trade deal is the most expansive one ever to be negotiated, but the negotiations surrounding the pact are taking place in nearly complete secrecy, with little opportunity for substantive public input.

In mid-June, more than 130 members of Congress have signed and sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk calling for transparency in these negotiations. Led by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Ct.) and Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.), the letter urges Kirk to include stronger congressional consultations and a more open and transparent process.

The letter says, in part: “We are troubled that important policy decisions are being made without full input from Congress. Under the trade advisory system, representatives from over 600 business interests have such access to both USTR negotiators and the negotiating text. However, American small business, civil society, and other interests who have a direct and long-term interest in the outcome of these negotiations have little meaningful input.”

Also in June, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio introduced a new bill called the 21st Century Trade and Market Access Act. It is essentially a model of what responsible trade policy should look like. The Sierra Club has always been an advocate for fair and responsible trade which helps lift up standards for environmental protection, workers’ rights, and other public interest policy. Senator Brown’s bill advances this vision.

Among other provisions, the bill calls for increased consultations with Congress on trade agreements and establishes rules for future trade agreements. For example, the bill stipulates that trade agreements must include legally binding and enforceable environmental provisions that require countries to implement and enforce their own environmental laws in addition to obligations under multilateral environmental agreements.

The bill also ensures that public interest policies, including environmental laws and regulations, would not be subject to attacks by massive foreign corporations. This is particularly important, given that a recently leaked draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership investment chapter confirms that the agreement would give corporations the right to sue governments for unlimited cash compensation — based on rulings by private tribunals — over nearly any law that that they argue is hurting its expected their future profits. It’s shocking but not unprecedented; dozens of environmental laws and regulations have been challenged under past trade pacts with similar rules, like NAFTA.

The TPP is the most significant opportunity to update trade policy for the 21st century and to learn from the mistakes of NAFTA and other trade deals.
The Sierra Club applauds the members of Congress who signed the letter to USTR calling for increased transparency as well as Senator Brown for his leadership on defining a trade agenda that supports environmental protection, American jobs, and a healthy economy.

Ilana Solomon is a trade representative for Sierra Club. Photo: Activists in Texas protest the proposed Trans-Pacific trade pact in May. Credit: Sierra Club

How TPP elevates corporate power at public expense

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a multilateral free trade agreement that aims to further liberalize the economies of the Asia-Pacific region. Currently, 11 countries are party to the negotiations including the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The U.S. joined the talks in November 2009, and both Canada and Mexico will be taking part in the 13th round of negotiations that begin in July. By this time next year, Japan is expected to join. The Agreement is designed to be expandable to accommodate new members.

The TPP would impose a set of extreme foreign investor privileges and rights and their private enforcement through the notorious “investor-state” system. This system elevates individual corporations and investors to equal standing with each TPP signatory country’s government- and above all of us citizens.
Under this regime, foreign investors can skirt domestic courts and laws, and sue governments directly before tribunals of three private sector lawyers operating under World Bank and U.N. rules to demand taxpayer compensation for any domestic law that investors believe will diminish their “expected future profits.”

—Sierra Club reports