After simmering away quietly on a back burner for years, the global trade agreements, TPP & TTIP, suddenly boiled over last week, fraying nerves in the US and around the world.
Singapore's Foreign Minister, K Shanmugam, was peevish when he appeared on Monday at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. Here he is, talking big for a country with less land area than the five boroughs of New York City, and borrowing a line from Heidi Klum (in bold below) .
From your perspective, I mean it's very, very serious. And your credibility, let's be frank about it. The president wants it. Everybody knows this is important. When you can’t get it through, how credible are you gonna be?
And then, if you look at it from our perspective, you want to do deals with the United States, you want to bring in the US, you want to talk to the US, you will start having many more questions about, look, can we get anything done?
And the world doesn't wait. Not even for the United States. New histories are being written every day. And a new chapter is being written every day and you're either in or you're out.
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The global trade agreements started going off the rails last week when an important vote in the European Parliament was postponed as it became apparent that there weren't enough members in favor for it to pass. |
Word from the Parliament now:
New TTIP timeline:
Trade Committee to decide fate of 116 amendments on 29 June
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Back in the States, the New Yorker ran a piece about the ongoing troubles faced by Australia, due to a pending Investor-State Dispute Settlement case.
Trade-Agreement Troubles
“We’ve also seen an expansion in the types of claims that have been brought,” Lise Johnson, the head of investment law and policy at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment.
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The Guardian provided a comprehensive report on the tribunals that are the most controversial feature of TPP & TTIP.
The obscure legal system that lets corporations sue countries
Fifty years ago, an international legal system was created to protect the rights of foreign investors. Today, as companies win billions in damages, insiders say it has got dangerously out of control
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The US Congress hasn't decided whether the trade agreements are still do-able and, today, House members gave themselves till the end of July to decide.
House votes to extend trade fight into July
The extension, attached onto a "rule" establishing parameters for floor debate on an unrelated intelligence authorization bill, sailed through on a vote of 236-189.
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Other issues that are related to trade, haven't been resolved.
TPP Issue Scorecard
Congress is being asked to “fast track” the TPP agreement and to leave itself with only an up‐or‐down vote. Unfortunately, many provisions are unresolved or on the wrong track.
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