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TPP

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP or TPP for short) is a trade and investment agreement that was signed on 7 March 2018 between 11 Pacific Rim countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The pact went into force on 30 December 2018 among the members who have ratified it. The US withdrew from it in January 2017.

The investment chapter includes investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions. Civil society groups have blasted the mechanism, as it gives a foreign investor or company disproportionate powers vis-à-vis governments or domestic companies. Foreign investors can resort to a parallel system of justice specifically made for them to challenge public health, the environment and other public-interest ‘safeguards’, and bypass national justice courts.

Photo: Blink O’Fanaye / CC BY-NC 2.0

(March 2020)

El CPTPP es una bomba de tiempo
EconoMex | 26-Feb-2018
El pasado 24 de enero, 11 países de la Cuenca del Pacífico alcanzaron un acuerdo para firmar un resucitado Tratado Transpacífico (TPP), pero ahora con el nombre de Acuerdo Global y Progresivo para la Asociación Transpacífico (CPTPP por sus siglas en inglés).
CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , labour | workers’ rights
The ‘new’ TPP and our shrinking democracy
Gisborne Herald | 26-Feb-2018
Profit is king. People are the pawns, and the Government will seem to be in favour of supra-national conglomerates if it signs this “new” TPP inclusive of the ISDS.
CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , New Zealand , sovereignty | democracy
US and Canada to drop ISDS from NAFTA. NZ should for TPPA
Scoop | 22-Feb-2018
Canada and the US are set to agree on withdrawing the controversial investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US, Canada and Mexico.
CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , NAFTA | USMCA , New Zealand
Shifting trade winds: US bilateralism & Asia-Pacific economic integration
Asia Society Policy Institute | 6-Feb-2018
Certain long-standing provisions of trade agreements, specifically ISDS, are worthy of reconsideration.
Asia , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , US
Free trade fantasies: Canada must reject both NAFTA and TPP
Global Research | 5-Feb-2018
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has boasted of his commitment to progressive economic, environmental and social policies. At the same time, has been a passionate warrior in his pursuit and defence of so-called ‘free trade’ agreements.
audio , Canada , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , NAFTA | USMCA
Labour’s TPPA-11 spin omits inconvenient details
Scoop | 13-Nov-2017
"[New Zealand’s] new government has begun to spin its achievements, while omitting some inconvenient details", says law professor Jane Kelsey.
CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , New Zealand
The "Ardern Clause" in TPP: A novel approach to curbing investment-state dispute settlement
IELP Blog | 13-Nov-2017
New Zealand’s new Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, is on the record as stating that investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) must not be a part of any future trade agreements signed by New Zealand.
CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , ISDS reform , New Zealand
Unkillable corporate rights trade clause needs a bullet in the head
Crikey | 8-Nov-2017
In a co-ordinated push with The Australian, the government has embarked on an attempt to revive the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement and burnish its free-trade credentials.
Australia , CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS
NZ ambassadors pushing for ISDS change
Newsroom | 3-Nov-2017
The Government is enlisting its ambassadors in a last-minute bid to win changes to the TPP’s controversial investment clauses, Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker says.
CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , ISDS reform , New Zealand
NZ to ban foreign buyers of existing homes
Scoop | 31-Oct-2017
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced plans to effectively ban foreign buyers of existing residential property but says the prohibition doesn’t put New Zealand at odds with the slimmed down version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal.
CPTPP , investor-state disputes | ISDS , land , New Zealand