It looks like the 11 remaining TPP countries may be trying to revive the deal, more or less. But if it remains a "dockable" agreement, in that other countries can sign in after the original nations ratify it, it may not be the kind of agreement that US-based corporations want.
For instance, New Zealand's new Prime Minister, Jacinda Arden, is already claiming the deal is "a damned sight better." She's an opponent of Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), a mechanism that allows foreign corporations to sue a nation in order to overturn domestic laws or regulatory decisions that infringe on the corporation's "right" to profit. ISDS was one of the aspects of the TPP that both left and right in the US and elsewhere rightfully objected to. While Arden may not be able to keep ISDS out of the CPTPP, she has said she will push for recognized side agreements between countries that will say that there will be no ISDS cases brought against either nation.
Electronic Frontier Foundation has also taken a look at what a new-ish TPP might mean for intellectual property, if the US is in or out of a final agreement. What the US negotiators wanted was far more extreme than what other countries called for, so it's not a surprise that that chapter is now on hold. EFF rightfully notes, however, that there is still much to object to in the chapters that remain, and that any negotiations from here on need to be conducted with much more transparency than the ones for the original TPP.
Meanwhile Vox offered this extremely shallow look at what's happening. Granted, Vox is an opinion site and not a news site, but jeez louise, guys! There is a much better story that needs to be covered, instead of this "Twilight of the Meritocracy/I Should Have Gone to B-School in Berlin" twaddle, and it's this: What kind of trade does the rest of the world think it needs? What kind of trade is fairer and are these countries turning to their people more and to multinationals less in an attempt to deliver? What kind of trade policy is more in line with the continued economic and social health of developed democracies--a type of nation that the US just isn't, despite having so many noisy gazillionaires. With US mainstream media both partisan and unable to see past pro-corporate business as usual, we'll have to count even more on international and alternative media to follow what's going on, and to figure out what this all might mean for our own trade justice work.
For instance, New Zealand's new Prime Minister, Jacinda Arden, is already claiming the deal is "a damned sight better." She's an opponent of Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), a mechanism that allows foreign corporations to sue a nation in order to overturn domestic laws or regulatory decisions that infringe on the corporation's "right" to profit. ISDS was one of the aspects of the TPP that both left and right in the US and elsewhere rightfully objected to. While Arden may not be able to keep ISDS out of the CPTPP, she has said she will push for recognized side agreements between countries that will say that there will be no ISDS cases brought against either nation.
Electronic Frontier Foundation has also taken a look at what a new-ish TPP might mean for intellectual property, if the US is in or out of a final agreement. What the US negotiators wanted was far more extreme than what other countries called for, so it's not a surprise that that chapter is now on hold. EFF rightfully notes, however, that there is still much to object to in the chapters that remain, and that any negotiations from here on need to be conducted with much more transparency than the ones for the original TPP.
Meanwhile Vox offered this extremely shallow look at what's happening. Granted, Vox is an opinion site and not a news site, but jeez louise, guys! There is a much better story that needs to be covered, instead of this "Twilight of the Meritocracy/I Should Have Gone to B-School in Berlin" twaddle, and it's this: What kind of trade does the rest of the world think it needs? What kind of trade is fairer and are these countries turning to their people more and to multinationals less in an attempt to deliver? What kind of trade policy is more in line with the continued economic and social health of developed democracies--a type of nation that the US just isn't, despite having so many noisy gazillionaires. With US mainstream media both partisan and unable to see past pro-corporate business as usual, we'll have to count even more on international and alternative media to follow what's going on, and to figure out what this all might mean for our own trade justice work.
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