Media Release, July 18 2016: “US Vice-President Joe Biden may talk up the TPP in his speech at Sydney University today. But US Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who controls the numbers in the U.S. Senate, declared last week in the Washington Post that the TPP legislation is unlikely to pass Congress this year.
June 7, Media Release: “The ALP trade policy released yesterday shows welcome responses to community concerns about secrecy, investor rights to sue governments and temporary workers, but will it vote against the TPP implementing legislation ?" Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network said today. Read the full release here.
Media Release, June 2, 2016: “Buried deep in the Australia Institute’s report released today, called Manufacturing Still Matters, is a blistering critique of trade deals that weaken governments’ ability to use their own purchasing power to support local industry,” Dr Patricia Ranald, C
Media Release, May 26, 2016: Wikileaks has released the most updated draft texts on the proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TISA)[i]on three new annexes: State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs); Professional Services, and New Provisions Applicable to All Services.
The TISA is currently being negotiated among 50 mostly industrialised and service-exporting countries including Australia, the US, 23 EU countries, Japan and Korea.
May 25, 2016: “Reports of Australian Ambassador Joe Hockey’s desperate attempts to lobby the U.S. Congress to support the TPP beg the question of why the Australian government should be supporting it,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network said today.“US bipartisan opposition to the TPP is now so strong that the US is now getting other governments to lobby its own Congress. There is something wrong with this picture.”
May 19, 2016: "The official U.S. International Trade Commission report released today on the impact of the TPP on the US economy has predicted a tiny GDP increase of only 0.15 percent after 15 years. This will increase the strong US bipartisan Congressional opposition to the TPP and make it even less likely that the implementing legislation will be considered by Congress before the US election in November," Dr Patricia Ranald, AFTINET Convener said today.
Media Release, 16 May 2016: “The US government is making a desperate attempt to placate domestic US corporate and Republican opposition to the TPP implementing legislation by demanding stronger monopolies for pharmaceutical companies and other concessions at a meeting of TPP ministers to be held this week on the sidelines of the APEC Trade Ministers meeting in Peru,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network said today.
Download the full media release here
MEDIA RELEASE, April 27 2016: Expert speakers will today discuss who benefits from two giant Asia-Pacific trade deals at a Public Forum to be held at 6 PM, SSTU WA, 3rd floor, 150 to 152 Adelaide Terrace East Perth.
Negotiators are meeting behind closed doors in Perth this week to discuss the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) between the 10 ASEAN countries plus Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, India and South Korea.
Media Release, April 20, 2016: Expert speakers from the US, Canada and Australia will today discuss the politics and prospects of the Trans-Pacific trade deal in the US and Australia at a public forum to be held from 12:30 - 2 PM at the Macquarie Room at New South Wales Parliament House.
MEDIA RELEASE, April 14 2016: “Trade Envoy Andrew Robb’s stated intention to complete secret negotiations on the India FTA in the next six weeks could violate the Caretaker Convention which states that governments should not finalise trade deals in the election period,” AFTINET Convener Dr Patricia Ranald said today.