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)

SSRN | 2-Mar-2017
This paper offers the first detailed English-language analysis of international investment arbitration law and practice in Thailand.
The Conversation | 20-Feb-2017
While consultancies, political donations, secondments and staff movements magnify corporate influence over government, an equally sinister trend is playing out in the world of multinational corporations.
Local Futures Blog | 16-Feb-2017
Local Futures’ Isabel Marlens discusses why many people know so little about trade issues, and what can be done about it.
Observer | 26-Jan-2017
The TransCanada lawsuit became virtually meaningless as Trump signed an executive order to continue construction of the Keystone XL
Third World Resurgence | 12-Jan-2017
In highlighting that the drafts of many of its key chapters are substantially similar to those of the TPP, Sanya Reid Smith warns that the RCEP may end up as a replica of the former.
The Wire | 9-Jan-2017
With the imminent demise of the Tran-Pacific Partnership Agreement almost certain, there are many lessons to be learnt from the fraudulent free trade deal.
Kaos en la Red | 19-Dec-2016
"Nos dirigimos a Uds. como Plataforma Chile Mejor sin TPP porque nos parece indispensable que el poder judicial de nuestro país informe a la sociedad civil sobre su posición respecto del Acuerdo Transpacífico TPP suscrito por la Presidenta Bachelet, cuyo envío al Congreso ha sido diferido a la espera de que se conozca la posición oficial de Estados Unidos y su nuevo Presidente."
La Tribune | 15-Dec-2016
Les accords commerciaux entre pays ont du plomb dans l’aile, à l’exemple de l’accord transatlantique Europe-Etats-Unis (Tafta/TTIP). Mais faut-il vraiment le regretter?
Live Mint | 14-Dec-2016
If we can manage our own economies well, new trade pacts will become largely redundant.
ABC | 6-Dec-2016
The problem with free trade deals is they rarely are about trade. In fact, trade usually is a side issue. And the TPP was a classic case in point.