Tag Archives: TPPA

‘Trade for All’ by Jen Olsen

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I am a Co-convener of the Alliance party and I was an organiser for TPP Action Dunedin. I have made a number of submissions detailing the views of many New Zealanders and the potential impacts on the health and well-being of our land and people from the type of multinational investor led trade treaty that we have seen with the CPTPP, RCEP, and PACER plus.

I believe we need to recognise that this old style of trade agreement has led us down the dead end road of unsustainable economic activity which takes place only to increase investment returns. We need to think differently about trade, view it through the lens of our knowledge about climate change and consider the well-being of our trading partners. Trade should be a vehicle to increase human well-being, it should be fair and it should encourage only sustainable activity. We know that inequality is a major contributor to social unrest in the world today and that resources are not fairly distributed. Fair trade does not take advantage of less powerful trading partners, exploit workers, or deplete natural resources. It allows the free flow of knowledge and encourages co-operative activity. Continue reading →

No Ownership Of Ideas

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New ideas don’t come out of thin air. They build on information that is already in the public domain, provided by past generations of innovative thinkers and on public education systems that teach people the skills they need to extend existing thinking.

If ever there was a time when new ideas were needed, it is now. The biggest problem facing the planet is climate change. And it is unique, in that if everyone doesn’t adopt measures to combat global warming, no one will be safe. What we do as individuals, or individual countries, is useless unless everyone elsewhere follows suit. This has major implications. Continue reading →

The T words: Trade, Tariffs, Trump

Posted on by nimda

The mainstream media in New Zealand presents the argument that New Zealand and the other countries involved in TPP negotiations over tariff-free trade/the best ways to increase corporate profits, represent the progressive way of the future. US President Donald Trump, in deciding to reintroduce tariffs, is going backwards.

Tariffs are an affront to neoliberalism and as such cannot be condoned by mainstream economists. All the more reason, even though it is Donald Trump who has raised the issue, we should go there. We should have the conversation we should have had in 1984 when our politicians decided, unilaterally, that tariff-free trade was the answer to the universe. Or at the least the question of why New Zealand couldn’t sell mutton to countries that already had their own sheep? Continue reading →

What Does Oppose Really Mean?

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As expected, our government has signed the CPTPP in Chile, despite its misgivings about the remaining ISDS clause. Both David Parker and Jacinda Ardern are on record as saying they are not completely happy with the ISDS provisions that remain in the CPTPP. David Parker has said that New Zealand will “oppose including ISDS in any future trade agreements involving New Zealand.” Prime Minister Ardern has intimated the same.

Labour and New Zealand First have given mixed messages on the CPTPP (TPP in its former life). They were opposed before the election. They support it now, albeit with some misgivings. So it would be good to clarify exactly what the government means when it says it will “oppose” including ISDS clauses in future trade agreements. Continue reading →

“Start As You Mean To Go On”

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Our new Prime Minister, a soon-to-be new mum, has challenged our mindset about what a PM can and cannot do – in a good way. And Prime Minister Ardern has made all the right noises about wanting changes in other areas too. She wants to reduce poverty and inequality and prevent climate change. She wants her government to make a difference. We want her government to make a difference.

The government says it wants to rethink the way we do trade in the future. We want the government to rethink the way we do trade too. But we want the government to rethink the way we do trade now. Continue reading →

TPP – Let’s Not Do This Before We See The Fine Print

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New Zealand wants to be able to trade with other countries. New Zealand needs to be able to trade with other countries. Likewise, other countries need to be able to trade with us. No one disputes that. But If New Zealand does not sign the TPP, trade will still occur. If New Zealand does not sign the TPP, no one will notice.

All we have been promised is that in a decade or so, if we sign the TPP, we will have better access to markets for our primary produce. Tariff removal does not have to happen overnight. A decade is a long time. A lot of things will change before then. In a decade New Zealand will hopefully not be so reliant on exporting dairy products. We may be much more interested in exporting to countries that are not part of this trade deal. Continue reading →

‘Trade’ Treaties – Let’s Lose The Delusions of Grandeur

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The main ‘trade’ deal on offer in 2018, the latest version of the TPP is, to all intents and purposes, the original version of the TPP without the US. Some of the clauses insisted on by the US have been ‘suspended’ but could be reactivated if and when the US decides to get back in the game.

Towards the end of 2017 the trade negotiators toured the country to publicize this latest version. They described it as the best deal they could negotiate for New Zealand. This is definitely not to be confused with the best deal for New Zealand. Continue reading →

We Voted For Change. Will We Get It?

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It looks like voters will find out sooner rather than later whether they really did get the change of government they voted for.

The TPP partners minus the US are to meet in Japan in the next two weeks to try to revive the deal. Sadly, it appears the content is the same as it has always been, from investor state dispute settlement clauses to lengthened copyright and patent times which will bump up the price of medicine. It is still just a tool to allow corporations, many of which are, ironically, US based, to impose their rules on democratically elected governments to maximise corporate profits.

Prior to becoming the government, the Greens, Labour, and NZ First all spoke out against the TPP. They agreed trade deals need a major overhaul to ensure they work in the best interests of the people and the environment, not big corporations. Based on what was said, it should be safe to assume that New Zealand will not even consider aligning itself with the deal as it stands. Continue reading →

The TPP Is Gone, John, Time To Move On

Posted on by nimda
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Our Prime Minister, John Key, seems to be struggling to come to terms with the fact that the TPP is gone. The battle has been lost. The US will never accept it without major concessions like a 12 year patent period on biologics. US Pharmaceutical Corporations’ profits versus people’s access to lifesaving medicine. People’s lives versus making a few people very rich. It’s a no-brainer. We cannot go there and neither can the other 10 participating countries.

Time to move on. But not to other deals of the same ilk – albeit without the US as Mr Key is hoping against hope. Time to talk in wider terms than just businesses in one country’s desire to exploit people in another country. All in the name of ever expanding, ever increasing profits. Continue reading →