Sign our letter against the damaging RCEP trade deal
RCEP giant trade deal talks to continue in 2019 as civil society resistance grows
15 November 2018: RCEP Ministers from 16 countries meeting in Singapore have confirmed in a statement that they will miss the deadline of finishing the agreement in 2018, and that talks will continue in 2019. the statement says that seven of twenty chapters of the agreement have been completed.
The Regional comprehensive Economic Partnership talks between China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the 10 ASEAN countries, covering half the world’s population, began in 2012 and have missed many deadlines.
Tell the Trade Minister your concerns about the RCEP
Peru FTA is first test of Labor’s new trade policy and should not be ratified says AFTINET
Media Release 8 November 2018: “AFTINET welcomes the Labor Opposition initiative to revisit the Peru-Australia Free Trade Agreement (PAFTA) because it includes foreign investor rights to sue governments (ISDS) which the Shadow Trade Minister has pledged to oppose in all trade agreements,” AFTINET Convener Dr Patricia Ranald said today.
Investment law expert slams investor rights to sue government (ISDS)
7 November 2018: George Kahale III, an internationally recognised expert on ISDS, in the keynote speech to an investment arbitration conference in Prague, has described the system as a ‘weapon of legal destruction’.
New studies show negative impacts from Pacific Island trade deal (PACER Plus) as Cook Islands delays ratification
5 November 2018: Chatham House has published an article by research fellow Cleo Paskal which argues that PACER Plus mainly benefits Australia and New Zealand, and could damage their relationships in the region. She says that Fiji and PNG, representing 80% of Pacific Island Countries’ combined GDP, have not joined PACER Plus because the increased imports from Australia and New Zealand may threaten their developing industries. Nine smaller Pacific Islands have been pressured to sign a deal they are reluctant to implement.
Progressive Alternatives for Trade Policy
1 November 2018: Jim Stanford, a leading progressive economist speaking at New Zealand’s alternative trade conference last week, argues in this video that “free trade” is not actually about a market free of rules, but about rules that favour corporations and prevent governments from regulating in the public interest.
AFTINET joins 300 civil society organisations to urge real change at United Nations discussions on global corporate rights
Media release 31 October 2018: “The Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET) has joined more than 300 civil society groups to urge governments at United Nations meetings in Vienna this week to completely overhaul the controversial Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system contained in trade agreements like the TPP-11, which the Australian government has just ratified.
Sign the open letter for gendered justice in trade
October 29, 2018: Sign the ActionAid Australia open letter to politicians calling for gender-just trade, in light of the specific impacts on women of the #TPP and other free trade agreements.
Parliamentary committee to revisit Peru – Australia trade agreement: submissions due 2 November
29 October 2018: AFTINET welcomes the announced review of the Peru-Australia trade agreement (PAFTA), which shares with the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP-11) many harmful provisions.