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.

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. 

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.

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. 

22 October 2018: A livestream of the conference “What an Alternative and Progressive Trade Strategy Should Look Like” at Auckland University got around 17,000 online viewers this week, as the push against agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (“TPP-11”) continues.

Media Release 17 October 2018: “AFTINET is deeply disappointed that the Senate looks set to pass the TPP-11 implementing legislation,” AFTINET Convener Dr Patricia Ranald said today.

“Progressive civil society groups, including public health, environment, aid and development groups, churches and unions have played a leading role in exposing the dangers of the TPP-11 in what has been an eight-year public debate.”

17 October 2018: AFTINET convener Dr Patricia Ranald’s “explainer” article about the TPP-11 was published in The Conversation on October 16.

It explains why the deal does not deliver economic gains, gives more rights to corporations at the expense of the public interest and why Labor’s pledge to make changes after ratification is unlikely to be delivered.

15 October 2018: “AFTINET welcome the pledges for progressive changes to future trade policy in shadow Trade Minister Jason Clare’s Bill  announced today, as the TPP-11 implementing legislation is being debated by the Senate. However we remain opposed to theTPP-11 because it restricts the right of future governments to regulate in the public interest.

11 October 2018: There was a reported meeting this week in Beijing between Chinese and European Union trade officials about changes to the World Trade Organisation (“WTO”). We’re still waiting to hear outcomes of the meeting, which follows change proposals and continued negotiations between WTO members.

8 October 2018: The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”), a remodelling of the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”), has serious implications for data privacy and usage for consumers in those countries and around the world according to Michael Geist in a Washington Post article.