How will TPP affect us?

[Perisher]

TPP deal: US and 11 other countries reach landmark Pacific trade pact
http://www.theguardian.com/business...reached-pacific-countries-international-trade

Trade ministers from 12 countries announced the largest trade-liberalizing pact in a generation on Monday. In a press conference in Atlanta, trade ministers from the US, Australia and Japan called the the Trans-Pacific Partnership an “ambitious” and “challenging” negotiation that will cut red tape globally and “set the rules for the 21st century for trade”.

Analysis From cars to cough medicine: why the Trans-Pacific Partnership matters to you
After five years of talks, a wide-ranging trade deal is close between Pacific rim countries which could have long-reaching economic consequences. Here is what you need to know about the TPP
Read more
The deal – in the works since 2008 – is a major victory for the US president, Barack Obama. “This partnership levels the playing field for our farmers, ranchers and manufacturers by eliminating more than 18,000 taxes that various countries put on our products,” the president said in a statement. “It includes the strongest commitments on labor and the environment of any trade agreement in history, and those commitments are enforceable, unlike in past agreements.”

 

[Perisher]

Basically, yup, how would this impact us?

It's good for corporations from what I heard and bad for consumers?
Haven't really got the time to digest this yet.

 

[Shiny Things]

Basically, yup, how would this impact us?

It's good for corporations from what I heard and bad for consumers?
Haven't really got the time to digest this yet.

I'm pretty strongly pro-free-trade, so I'm coming at this with a pretty significant bias, but I think it's good for consumers.

The main point of TPP is to slash tariffs on a bunch of stuff, which means cheaper imports for everyone and more exports for everyone. When most of the complaints are along the lines of "floods of new agricultural imports OMG" and "lower tariffs OMG" and "bigger trade deficits OMG" it's a sure sign that the complainers are thinking too hard about the (small number of) producers and not enough about the (much larger numbers of) consumers.

That said it's not all wine and roses: I don't like what it does for internet regulation. As far as I can tell it seems to extend the US's weird regulatory regime to the rest of the world, which... not great.

 

[Perisher]

I read about the patent stuff... seems that big pharma can extend their patent indefinitely just by changing a bit of it each time it's about to expire, isn't that crazy? Buying JNJ now!!

Specifically this

'In the case of pharmaceutical patents, the TPP appears to offer much stronger protections for drug companies than those set by TRIPS. Patents could be extended beyond 20 years, delaying the rate at which generics can come to market, for example. Poor countries would also have reduced ability to get brand-name drugs at generic costs. Medicare and other government programs around the world could also lose their bargaining power to get generic drugs at reasonable prices.'

http://www.healthline.com/health-ne...oost-drug-prices-and-endanger-access-061215#3

True?

 

[vofzxy]

Isnt it they wanted 12 years minimum period and Aust wanted 5 years ?? For drugs upon patent registration

Sent from LGE LG-H815 using GAGT

 

[anfielder]

I read about the patent stuff... seems that big pharma can extend their patent indefinitely just by changing a bit of it each time it's about to expire, isn't that crazy? Buying JNJ now!!

Specifically this

'In the case of pharmaceutical patents, the TPP appears to offer much stronger protections for drug companies than those set by TRIPS. Patents could be extended beyond 20 years, delaying the rate at which generics can come to market, for example. Poor countries would also have reduced ability to get brand-name drugs at generic costs. Medicare and other government programs around the world could also lose their bargaining power to get generic drugs at reasonable prices.'

http://www.healthline.com/health-ne...oost-drug-prices-and-endanger-access-061215#3

True?

There's a commentary carried in today's ST that mentions this too.

http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/transpacific-free-trade-charade

I guess, as with everything, there are pros and cons.

 

[Perisher]

There's a commentary carried in today's ST that mentions this too.

http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/transpacific-free-trade-charade

I guess, as with everything, there are pros and cons.

Yah... and here is that part again...

'The TPP would manage trade in pharmaceuticals through a variety of seemingly arcane rule changes on issues such as "patent linkage", "data exclusivity" and "biologics". The upshot is that pharmaceutical companies would effectively be allowed to extend - sometimes almost indefinitely - their monopolies on patented medicines, keep cheaper generics off the market, and block "biosimilar" competitors from introducing new medicines for years. That is how the TPP will manage trade for the pharmaceutical industry if the US gets its way.'


Buying Pharma now...

 

[Shiny Things]

Isnt it they wanted 12 years minimum period and Aust wanted 5 years ?? For drugs upon patent registration

Not all drugs, just for biologics - a subclass of complex drugs made from biological sources (Vox has a really good explainer here). Patent protection for biologics was the one final sticking point on the whole agreement, so that's why it became kind of a thing.

The other thing to keep in mind here is that nobody outside the negotiation teams has seen the full text of the TPP yet. And that's fine - every government will have to publish the text of the agreement so their parliaments can vote on it, so it's not like it's a big secret - but it means we're all still speculating about the actual content of the agreement based on leaks from the meeting rooms and from Wikileaks.

Edit: another thing to add to the "squicky" side of the ledger: the investor-state dispute resolution system that Stiglitz refers to in his article that the ST reprinted. Yeah, I mean, I'm really not convinced there's a need for that. Altria/PMo/whatever they call themselves now doesn't need another avenue to sue countries for bringing in plain-packaging legislation. (Seriously, how do Altria executives sleep at night?)

 

[frenchbriefs]

no BRIC countries is good,it means we dont have to deal with more shitskins and chao ah tiongs.

one **** agreement screwing us deep deep double anal penetration is good enough we dont need another worthless agreement.

I hope this TPP removes all tax withholding from US form We8b,otherwise its a worthless piece of crap.

 

[kel666]

not only tat, overseas companies can sue the government if one day the government introduce a policy tat benefits us but not to them.

 

[Perisher]

not only tat, overseas companies can sue the government if one day the government introduce a policy tat benefits us but not to them.

Woah, which part of the agreement is that found? Curious.

 

[kel666]

Woah, which part of the agreement is that found? Curious.

http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/transpacific-free-trade-charade

Similarly, consider how the US hopes to use the TPP to manage trade for the tobacco industry. For decades, US-based tobacco companies have used foreign investor adjudication mechanisms created by agreements like the TPP to fight regulations intended to curb the public-health scourge of smoking.

Under these investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) systems, foreign investors gain new rights to sue national governments in binding private arbitration for regulations they see as diminishing the expected profitability of their investments.

Imagine what would have happened if these provisions had been in place when the lethal effects of asbestos were discovered. Rather than shutting down manufacturers and forcing them to compensate those who had been harmed, under ISDS governments would have had to pay the manufacturers not to kill their citizens. Taxpayers would have been hit twice - first to pay for the health damage caused by asbestos, and then to compensate manufacturers for their lost profits when the government stepped in to regulate a dangerous product.

It should surprise no one that America's international agreements produce managed, rather than free, trade. That is what happens when the policymaking process is closed to non-business stakeholders - not to mention the people's elected representatives in Congress.

savvy?

 

[bigpelican]

ever since TPP announced, market is going upwards ...

 

[goldenwayfarer]

http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/transpacific-free-trade-charade




savvy?

wah jitpat siao liao The agreement just went against the "respecting other nation's sovereignty". Now SG will kena bullied big time every time it wants to implement law liao, such as tobacco

 

[Some-one]

ever since TPP announced, market is going upwards ...

I also notice it. Seems like it is a good news for the market.