February 27, 2017: Negotiations between Australia, New Zealand China, India, Japan, South Korea and 10 ASEAN countries continue this week for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in Kobe, Japan. The negotiations are held in secret, and the Japanese government has been reluctant to allow community groups to meet with negotiators, only arranging a short meeting with little notice. Negotiations will continue through 2017.

Leaked documents have revealed that TPP-like proposals on stronger medicine monopolies and investor rights to sue governments are on the table. Community groups from most RCEP countries have urged governments to reject these proposals and release negotiating texts. See AFTINET media release here.

Tell the Australian trade Minister to say no to the TPP in the RCEP here.

22 February 2017:  280 organisations from five different continents have sent a statement to the CEO of OceanaGold, the Canadian-Australian company which recently lost an outrageous ISDS lawsuit it bought against El Salvador over mining licenses. 

The organisations, including AFTINET, demanded that OceanaGold leave El Salvador and pay $8 million to the Government. Read the statement here.

20 February 2017: US President Trump says countries like Australia are “freeloading” because our government regulates medicine prices through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

The PBS is a vital part of Australia’s health system because it helps to ensure lifesaving medicines are affordable and accessible.

At a meeting with pharmaceutical companies in January, Mr Trump said:

February 9, 2016: Australian Trade Minister Steve Ciobo is now pushing for a TPP without the US - or as he calls it, a ‘TPP minus one’.

February 8, 2016: AFTINET welcomes the report of the Senate inquiry in which Labor has said that the US withdrawal from the TPP means it will not happen and that the implementing legislation should be deferred. The Greens and the Nick Xenophon team have rejected the TPP.

February 6, 2017: Many prominent media commentators say the demise of the TPP is no loss for Australia, and reiterate the concerns of public health, environment, union and other community organisations. Instead of endorsing a failed agreement, the Australian Government should strive for better trade deals in the future.

6 February, 2017: Fifty-three diverse health, church, union, environment and aid organisations representing more than two million Australians have endorsed a letter calling on Labor to reject the failed TPP and ensure fairness in future trade deals, including the RCEP.

“Not only would it be futile to endorse an agreement that would never come into effect but it would also be damaging for future trade debate in Australia,” they write.

Media Release January 31, 2017: "The latest leaked  Trade in Services documents confirm that the negotiations are driven by the interests of global services companies that want to maximise profitable trade in services and minimise government regulation in the public interest. Many of these are similar to proposals in the now-dead Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP),” Dr Patricia Ranald, Convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network of community groups (AFTINET) said today. Read the full release here.

January 24, 2017: Dr Particia Ranald's oped in the Fairfax media argues for inclusive and progressive fair trade policies as an alternative to both fundamentalist 'free' trade and Trump and Hansen's  knee-jerk nationalism and discrimination based on fear.

21 January 2017: Shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration today the new administration released a statement confirming the US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).