Tag Archives: Trade Promotion Authority

TISA Exposed: ‘Holy Grail’ of Leaks Reveals Detailed Plot for Corporate Takeover

Fifty-two-nation Trade in Services Agreement uses trade regulations ‘as a smokescreen to limit citizen rights,’ says labor leader

At a protest in Geneva last year. (Photo: Annette Dubois/flickr/cc)

Written by Deidre Fulton, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-1-15.

Days ahead of another round of secret international negotiations, WikiLeaks on Wednesday released what it described as “a modern journalistic holy grail: the secret Core Text for the largest ‘trade deal’ in history.”

That deal is the Trade in Services Agreement, or TISA, currently being negotiated by 52 nations that together account for two-thirds of global GDP. Those nations are the United States, the 28 members of the European Union, and 23 other countries, including Turkey, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Pakistan, Taiwan, and Israel. According to WikiLeaks, TISA “is the largest component of the United States’ strategic neoliberal ‘trade’ treaty triumvirate,” which also includes the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Pact (TTIP).

“Together, the three treaties form not only a new legal order shaped for transnational corporations, but a new economic ‘grand enclosure,’ which excludes China and all other BRICS countries,” declared WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange in a press statement. What’s more, it adds, “[a]ll three treaties have been subject to stringent criticism for the lack of transparency and public consultation in their negotiation processes.”

The texts published Wednesday cover everything from financial services to telecommunications to migrant labor protections. Continue reading →

In Your Hands: One Massive Political Object Lesson

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By occupostal for Occupy World Writes.

tpa-vote

Friday’s House of Representatives vote against Trade Promotion Authority was a mixed victory, which some (like me) would say is a temporary one. The House had split TPA into two parts, unlike the Senate which had passed it—the second part being for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) to fund retraining for job loss from the TPP. That’s the part that had Democrats angling to defeat the two-part “fast track” package—because on that vote they’d be joined by more Republicans who on ideological principle would vote against TAA along with them. One part goes down, the whole deal does. And that’s what happened.

For now. A re-vote on TAA is scheduled for Tuesday. Either the battle will be turned then, or the war will go on until a probable victory–even if it has to be later than sooner–for TPA and at least some of the trade agreements in its wake become a reality. I haven’t changed my mind on inevitability since Friday morning’s post Is It All Over But the Denying?

So the question is, what’s a 99-percenter citizenry going to do in order to turn the tide of trade dealing that’s swamping our lives? Continue reading →

Is It All Over But the Denying?

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By occupostal for Occupy World Writes

Under fast track, ‘fast’ is little more than a euphemism for ‘avoid the public, and benefit the fortunate few,’ warns Ohio State law professor Margot Kaminski. (Photo: Backbone Campaign/cc/flickr)

When you know how the outcome is going to play out—and not well—the old expression goes “It’s all over but the crying.” We may very well be in that spot with passage of the Trade Promotion Authority(TPA)—which has already passed in the U.S. Senate and is due for a vote in the House of Representatives today. Like the followup trade agreements that TPA is meant to grease the skids for—the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), and now TiSA (Trade in Services Agreement)—it may get as many repeat votes as needed to force it through to a foregone conclusion.

So at this moment, it makes sense to look at a few specific issues: TPA or “fast track” itself, the constitutionality of the whole alphabet soup, and the naked power relationship between government and the forces of capitalism. Both crying and denying are part of the view here. Continue reading →