Countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) say they have reached a deal. So here it comes.
Monday morning it was announced that a “Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal Is Reached,” presented as much as a foreign policy success as a “trade” deal.
“The United States, Japan and 10 other Pacific basin nations on Monday agreed after years of negotiations to the largest regional trade accord in history, an economic pact envisioned as a bulwark against China’s power and a standard-setter for global commerce, worker rights and environmental protection.
… The trade initiative, dating to the start of his administration, is a centerpiece of Mr. Obama’s economic program to expand exports. It also stands as a capstone for his foreign policy “pivot” toward closer relations with fast-growing eastern Asia, after years of American preoccupation with the Middle East and North Africa.
The effect the deal will have on actual “trade” is unclear, since the U.S. already has trade agreements with many of the participating countries. Also much of the deal appears to be about things people would not usually consider “trade”, like investor rights and limits on the ability of countries to regulate.
The deal brokered today by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the Australian government on biotech drugs, which supposedly paved the way for an overall “deal in principle” for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), fell short of Big Pharma’s most extreme demands but will contribute to preventable suffering and death. The final deal as reported does not seem to adhere to the “May 10th 2007 Agreement” standard on access to affordable medicines and could complicate any eventual final TPP deal’s prospects in the U.S. Congress. In biologics and other areas, TPP rules would expand monopoly protections for the pharmaceutical industry at the expense of people’s access to affordable medicines. (The May 10th Agreement was brokered in 2007 between Democratic congressional leadership and the Bush administration to begin to reduce the negative consequences of U.S.-negotiated trade agreements, for health, the environment and labor.)
In recent days, monopoly periods for biologics, which are medical products derived from living organisms and include many new and forthcoming cancer treatments, became the most controversial issue in the attempt to conclude a TPP. The highly technical and confusing biologics deal appears to not guarantee Big Pharma the minimum eight-year automatic monopolies that industry has taken for granted as an eventual TPP outcome. According to informed sources, countries could limit automatic biologics exclusivity to not more than five years, at which point affordable biosimilars could enter the market. (Biologics exclusivity is separate from and independent of patent protection, though the protections may overlap.) Yet the deal also includes mechanisms that would help the USTR browbeat countries, now and in the future, to get what Big Pharma wants, and pull countries toward longer monopoly periods.
This week, U.S. Rep. Sander Levin made clear that May 10 agreement limits exclusivity to five years, with a “concurrent period” mechanism to ensure faster access that is not present in the TPP biologics deal. Several other TPP rules, including those relating to patent term extensions, linkage and evergreening, go beyond the limits of the May 10th Agreement. In late July, 11 of the 28 Democrats who voted for Fast Track legislation warned in a letter that the TPP could fail in Congress if it did not adhere to the May 10 standard with respect to access to medicines.
Though the deal remains secret, here is some of what is known about the agreement deal.
With respect to other issues in the TPP’s Intellectual Property Chapter, the transition periods before developing countries must meet all of the TPP’s protections for pharmaceutical corporations and possible exceptions to those rules are not sufficient to protect access to medicines. Transition periods will be very short and apply to only a few of the most harmful rules. Exceptions will be limited to very few rules or countries. Within a few years, most, if not all, harmful TPP rules will apply to all countries.
Controversies over pharmaceuticals and intellectual property, including frequently unanimous resistance from negotiating countries, have held up the TPP for years. Many courageous negotiators and others from developing countries stood up to industry and USTR pressure, consistently, to protect their people’s health. A number of harmful rules were eliminated from TPP proposals as a result of this work.
Yet the Obama administration showed itself willing to risk its entire trade agenda to satisfy the avarice of the pharmaceutical lobby. In that respect, people everywhere trying to understand why medicine prices are so high find a disheartening answer in the TPP negotiations: The pharmaceutical industry has purchased tremendous influence with political leaders.
Monday morning it was announced that a “Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal Is Reached,” presented as much as a foreign policy success as a “trade” deal.
“The United States, Japan and 10 other Pacific basin nations on Monday agreed after years of negotiations to the largest regional trade accord in history, an economic pact envisioned as a bulwark against China’s power and a standard-setter for global commerce, worker rights and environmental protection.
… The trade initiative, dating to the start of his administration, is a centerpiece of Mr. Obama’s economic program to expand exports. It also stands as a capstone for his foreign policy “pivot” toward closer relations with fast-growing eastern Asia, after years of American preoccupation with the Middle East and North Africa.
The effect the deal will have on actual “trade” is unclear, since the U.S. already has trade agreements with many of the participating countries. Also much of the deal appears to be about things people would not usually consider “trade”, like investor rights and limits on the ability of countries to regulate.
The deal brokered today by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the Australian government on biotech drugs, which supposedly paved the way for an overall “deal in principle” for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), fell short of Big Pharma’s most extreme demands but will contribute to preventable suffering and death. The final deal as reported does not seem to adhere to the “May 10th 2007 Agreement” standard on access to affordable medicines and could complicate any eventual final TPP deal’s prospects in the U.S. Congress. In biologics and other areas, TPP rules would expand monopoly protections for the pharmaceutical industry at the expense of people’s access to affordable medicines. (The May 10th Agreement was brokered in 2007 between Democratic congressional leadership and the Bush administration to begin to reduce the negative consequences of U.S.-negotiated trade agreements, for health, the environment and labor.)
In recent days, monopoly periods for biologics, which are medical products derived from living organisms and include many new and forthcoming cancer treatments, became the most controversial issue in the attempt to conclude a TPP. The highly technical and confusing biologics deal appears to not guarantee Big Pharma the minimum eight-year automatic monopolies that industry has taken for granted as an eventual TPP outcome. According to informed sources, countries could limit automatic biologics exclusivity to not more than five years, at which point affordable biosimilars could enter the market. (Biologics exclusivity is separate from and independent of patent protection, though the protections may overlap.) Yet the deal also includes mechanisms that would help the USTR browbeat countries, now and in the future, to get what Big Pharma wants, and pull countries toward longer monopoly periods.
This week, U.S. Rep. Sander Levin made clear that May 10 agreement limits exclusivity to five years, with a “concurrent period” mechanism to ensure faster access that is not present in the TPP biologics deal. Several other TPP rules, including those relating to patent term extensions, linkage and evergreening, go beyond the limits of the May 10th Agreement. In late July, 11 of the 28 Democrats who voted for Fast Track legislation warned in a letter that the TPP could fail in Congress if it did not adhere to the May 10 standard with respect to access to medicines.
Though the deal remains secret, here is some of what is known about the agreement deal.
- Currency manipulation is not addressed in TPP, even though Congress’ “fast track” legislation said it must be. To get around this, a “side agreement” supposedly sets up a “forum” on currency. Past side agreements have proven unenforceable. For this reason Ford Motor Company has already publicly announced opposition to TPP.
- A “tobacco carve-out” is in the deal, in some form. This was added because the agreement contains investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions that will allow corporations to sue governments that use laws or regulations to try to restrict what the companies do. These provisions restrict the ability of governments to protect their citizens so thoroughly that tobacco companies have used ISDS provisions in similar agreements to sue governments that try to help smokers quit or prevent children from starting smoking. TPP proponents felt that this carve-out will help TPP to pass, while the ability to limit other laws and regulations remains.
- President Obama has said TPP includes the “strongest labor provisions of any free trade agreement in history.” Previous “trade” agreements do not even stop labor organizers from being murdered, so even if TPP has “stronger” labor provisions, that is an extremely low bar.
- TPP reduces or eliminates many tariffs, further encouraging companies to move factories out of the U.S. to low-wage countries like Vietnam. An example of the effect TPP will have on U.S. manufacturing is Nike vs. New Balance. Nike already outsources its manufacturing to take advantage of low wages, while New Balance is trying to continue to manufacture in the U.S. When tariffs on imported shoes are eliminated Nike will gain an even greater advantage over New Balance. New Balance has said that the tariff reductions in TPP will force it to stop manufacturing inside the US.
- The reduction and elimination of tariffs reduces revenues for the governments involved.
With respect to other issues in the TPP’s Intellectual Property Chapter, the transition periods before developing countries must meet all of the TPP’s protections for pharmaceutical corporations and possible exceptions to those rules are not sufficient to protect access to medicines. Transition periods will be very short and apply to only a few of the most harmful rules. Exceptions will be limited to very few rules or countries. Within a few years, most, if not all, harmful TPP rules will apply to all countries.
Controversies over pharmaceuticals and intellectual property, including frequently unanimous resistance from negotiating countries, have held up the TPP for years. Many courageous negotiators and others from developing countries stood up to industry and USTR pressure, consistently, to protect their people’s health. A number of harmful rules were eliminated from TPP proposals as a result of this work.
Yet the Obama administration showed itself willing to risk its entire trade agenda to satisfy the avarice of the pharmaceutical lobby. In that respect, people everywhere trying to understand why medicine prices are so high find a disheartening answer in the TPP negotiations: The pharmaceutical industry has purchased tremendous influence with political leaders.
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