30 June 2016 

Writing for the New York Times, prominent US democrat Bernie Sanders makes the case for his party to commit to reject the TPP in the post-election "lame duck period" and beyond.

In the wake of Brexit, he writes, "We need to fundamentally reject our “free trade” policies and move to fair trade. Americans should not have to compete against workers in low-wage countries who earn pennies an hour. We must defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We must help poor countries develop sustainable economic models."

Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO argues that the US majority has rejected the outdated TPP trade model which benefits corporations at the expense of working people, and that it can be defeated in Congress.He  argues for a fair trade policy that creates shared prosperity. Read more here.

June 28 2016:Canadian oil company TransCanada has now filed its lawsuit  for $15 billion against the United States under the North American Free Trade Agreement, arguing that the U.S. rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline for environmental reasons violated NAFTA’s broad rights for foreign investors by thwarting the company’s “expectations." 

June 27 2016: The Brexit vote shows that politicians have been ignoring the unfair impacts of trade deals like the TTIP (the US-EU version of the TPP) and EU austerity policies, writes John Hilary from UK aid organisation War on Want. Read the full article here.

22 June 2016

A new report by the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) has urged Pacific Island countries to walk away from PACER-Plus trade talks.

The report, titled ‘Defending Pacific ways of life: A People’s Social Impact Assessment of PACER-Plus,’ comprises of assessments from leading academics in Fiji, New Zealand and Australia and looks at leaked PACER-Plus text. It concludes that Australia and New Zealand are pushing their own interests at the expense of the Pacific, and recommends that Pacific island governments should retain their legal right to regulate to protect their national development interests, which include the ownership and control of land, natural resources and the environment.

22 June 2016: Former deputy secretary in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and High Commissioner in Canada Greg Wood writes that free trade agreements are not the great deal we've been sold.

He argues for less secrecy in trade negotiations and is critical of the China FTA, calling it a "rubbery document, lacking true reciprocity.” 

On the ISDS provisions in the TPP and other deals, he argues that the wording of claimed “carve outs” for health and environment open a "field day for lawyers”.

Read the full article in Fairfax Media here.

21 June 2016

In a major economics policy speech today, US Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said that trade deals which are not working for Americans should be rejected, and agreements like the TPP which don’t meet high standards for raising wages or creating good-paying jobs should be rejected.

She also contrasted her views on trade with those of Republican candidate Donald Trump, who also opposes the TPP. 

“There's a difference between getting tough on trade, and recklessly starting trade wars,” she said.

Read the full article here.

June 20, 2016 

The Davos elites ignored too many problems with free-trade pacts for too many years. Priority should go to keeping protectionism at bay rather than lowering more trade barriers, writes Paul Blustein for Politico. Read the article here.

19 June 2016

TPP proponents and opponents in New Zealand discuss the likelihood of the TPP being approved in the US lame-duck period - that is, after the election on November 2  but before the new president’s term begins.

The only conclusion to make at this stage is that the future of the TPP is still highly uncertain, but we certainly can’t be letting our guard down in the hope that it will fall over in the US.