As Secretive Trade Negotiations Resume in LA, Public Interest Groups Demand Transparency<\/strong><\/h2>\nLOS ANGELES, Calif. \u2014 As trade negotiators from throughout the Pacific Rim meet in Los Angeles this week for talks aimed at moving the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement (TPP) towards a rapid completion, labor, environmental and consumer advocates demanded that negotiating proposals be made available for public review and comment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmericans deserve the right to know what U.S. negotiators have been proposing in our names,\u201d said Tim Robertson, director of the California Fair Trade Coalition.\u00a0 \u201cThis is the third year of serious negotiations on a pact that\u2019s supposed set the standard for international trade and investment across the globe.\u00a0 It\u2019s outrageous that the public hasn\u2019t been told what our representatives are negotiating for and what domestic policies they are giving away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The TPP is soon entering its twelfth major round of negotiations between the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, and is explicitly intended as a \u201cdocking agreement\u201d that other nations will join over time.\u00a0 Canada, Japan and Mexico have already indicated their interest in doing so.\u00a0 U.S. negotiators are pushing for the completion of the TPP negotiations this year.<\/p>\n
The U.S. has reportedly introduced text for most, if not all, of an estimated 26 separate TPP chapters covering everything from our environment to financial regulations, drug patents to public procurement.\u00a0 While approximately 600 corporate lobbyists and a handful of others have been given \u201ccleared advisor\u201d status enabling them to review and comment on these proposals, the general public has not been allowed to do so.\u00a0 This is a far less transparent negotiating process than many other international agreements, including those at the World Trade Organization, where draft negotiating texts are published online.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the table in these talks are critical issues related to the rights of workers, climate change, biodiversity and our global economy.\u00a0 It is crucially important that there is transparency around what is being negotiated and time for open debate and public participation,\u201d said Ilana Solomon, trade representative with the Sierra Club.<\/p>\n
TPP negotiations in Los Angeles are occurring from April 1 to 4 on labor, environmental and government procurement provisions.\u00a0 What information is available on U.S. proposals comes primarily from a small handful of leaked documents and conversations with negotiators from other countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf U.S. negotiators get their way, the public will be barred from reviewing any proposals until the negotiations are over, at which point it will be virtually impossible to make any substantive changes,\u201d said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen\u2019s Global Trade Watch.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s a bad way of making public policy, to say the least.\u00a0 Frankly, it reinforces the worst public perceptions about government working behind-closed-doors with moneyed interests at the expense of the general public.\u201d<\/p>\n
###<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For Immediate Release April 2, 2012 As Secretive Trade Negotiations Resume in LA, Public Interest Groups Demand Transparency LOS ANGELES, Calif. \u2014 As trade negotiators from throughout the Pacific Rim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":34,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Public Interest Groups Demand Transparency in Trans-Pacific Partnership - Citizens Trade Campaign<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/public-interest-groups-demand-transparency-in-trans-pacific-partnership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Public Interest Groups Demand Transparency in Trans-Pacific Partnership - Citizens Trade Campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For Immediate Release April 2, 2012 As Secretive Trade Negotiations Resume in LA, Public Interest Groups Demand Transparency LOS ANGELES, Calif. \u2014 As trade negotiators from throughout the Pacific Rim […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/public-interest-groups-demand-transparency-in-trans-pacific-partnership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Citizens Trade Campaign\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/\",\"name\":\"Citizens Trade Campaign\",\"description\":\"Working Together for Social and Environmental Justice in Trade Policy\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/public-interest-groups-demand-transparency-in-trans-pacific-partnership\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/public-interest-groups-demand-transparency-in-trans-pacific-partnership\/\",\"name\":\"Public Interest Groups Demand Transparency in Trans-Pacific Partnership - Citizens Trade Campaign\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-04-02T21:26:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-04-02T21:26:25+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/public-interest-groups-demand-transparency-in-trans-pacific-partnership\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/public-interest-groups-demand-transparency-in-trans-pacific-partnership\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/public-interest-groups-demand-transparency-in-trans-pacific-partnership\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Activist Resources\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Press Room\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Public Interest Groups Demand Transparency in Trans-Pacific Partnership\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Public Interest Groups Demand Transparency in Trans-Pacific Partnership - Citizens Trade Campaign","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/public-interest-groups-demand-transparency-in-trans-pacific-partnership\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Public Interest Groups Demand Transparency in Trans-Pacific Partnership - Citizens Trade Campaign","og_description":"For Immediate Release April 2, 2012 As Secretive Trade Negotiations Resume in LA, Public Interest Groups Demand Transparency LOS ANGELES, Calif. \u2014 As trade negotiators from throughout the Pacific Rim […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/public-interest-groups-demand-transparency-in-trans-pacific-partnership\/","og_site_name":"Citizens Trade Campaign","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/","name":"Citizens Trade Campaign","description":"Working Together for Social and Environmental Justice in Trade Policy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/public-interest-groups-demand-transparency-in-trans-pacific-partnership\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/public-interest-groups-demand-transparency-in-trans-pacific-partnership\/","name":"Public Interest Groups Demand Transparency in Trans-Pacific Partnership - Citizens Trade Campaign","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-04-02T21:26:25+00:00","dateModified":"2012-04-02T21:26:25+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/public-interest-groups-demand-transparency-in-trans-pacific-partnership\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/public-interest-groups-demand-transparency-in-trans-pacific-partnership\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/public-interest-groups-demand-transparency-in-trans-pacific-partnership\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Activist Resources","item":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Press Room","item":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/activist-resources\/press-room\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Public Interest Groups Demand Transparency in Trans-Pacific Partnership"}]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4792"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4792\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}