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)

CNN | 22-Feb-2016
This threat to the law and to democratic processes has no place in a 21st century trade agreement and should be removed before these agreements can be seriously considered.
The Jakarta Post | 16-Feb-2016
Indonesia could fall into bankruptcy if the biggest market in Southeast Asia join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would allow investors to sue the government.
The Clinic | 12-Feb-2016
El domingo pasado el canciller, Heraldo Muñoz, tras firmar el Acuerdo de Asociación Transpacífico, que debe ser ratificado por el Parlamento, argumentó que las críticas se debían a desinformación. La organización civil, Chile mejor sin TPP, responde al secretario de Estado y refuta sus afirmaciones sobre los beneficios que traerá para el país el cuestionado acuerdo comercial.
El Dínamo | 12-Feb-2016
Chile lo firmó en Nueva Zelanda la semana pasada. Con ello la polémica se abre y amenaza ser una bola de fuego. Para unos es la ignominia, para otros, la salvación, como lo ha dicho la Cancillería chilena. 
The Globe and Mail | 1-Feb-2016
Despite Canada’s 14 new free-trade deals, Canada posted record trade deficits and shrinking exports throughout 2015 as prices for tangible commodities fell.
Equipo Jackson | 27-Jan-2016
¿Qué es el TPP? explicado con papas, kiwis y berenjenas
Embassy | 21-Jan-2016
CETA, China, softwood lumber among government’s top trade priorities for 2016. Canada’s government is willing to address ISDS concerns.
Market Watch | 14-Jan-2016
The problem of TPP is with the “investment” chapter, which severely constrains environmental, health, and safety regulation, and even financial regulations with significant macroeconomic impacts.
Les Echos | 14-Jan-2016
L’accord sur le climat ou la création d’une nouvelle banque de développement par les BRICS l’an dernier vont influer sur 2016. Mais le vrai enjeu, moins médiatique, ce sont les accords commerciaux restrictifs qui s’annoncent.
The Malaysian Insider | 11-Jan-2016
The Malaysian government could be sued by foreign corporations if it intervened in their business activities under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.