U.S. Trade Rep Confident About Trans-Pacific Partnership

[limpyhobbler]

SINGAPORE–The top U.S. trade negotiator said he doesn’t see plans for an Asia-only trade pact that would bind China and Japan to other economies throughout the region as a threat to U.S. economic interests.

Instead, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said he wants to accelerate efforts to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, which includes a handful of Southeast Asian countries but excludes China and Japan, at least for now.

“I am reasonably confident we’ll get the TPP finished before the [Asia-wide free trade zone] comes into being” Mr. Kirk said in a telephone interview Sunday, even though discussions about a free trade area across Asia have gathered momentum recently.

Mr. Kirk spoke from Hanoi, where he met with Vietnamese officials after taking part in a meeting of economic chiefs from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia.
...

http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2012/09/03/u-s-trade-rep-confident-about-trans-pacific-partnership/

And another good read from the Democratic Party platform:
TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) trade agreement makes it into the Democratic Party Platform

It's official.

[xchrom]

2. As though NAFTA needed steroids. Nt

[NCarolinawoman]

3. ....and that trade rep doesn't have to worry that he will be unemployed because of this.

The people who negotiate these deals are above all that.

I wonder if they might think to put environmental laws and workers' rights into these "free trade" partnerships. That was suppose to happen during the first NAFTA agreement. They never were enforced.

[msongs]

4. Obama's screw American workers trade pact nt

[fasttense]

5. The T-pee-pee is NOT a trade agreement. It's a Bill of Rights for corporate profits.

It has very little to do with regulating trade and a lot to do with setting up a separate legal system or tribunal where corporations have absolute rights to exploit national resources and citizens. It makes it illegal to have farmer's markets. You think I exaggerate?

Take a look here: http://tppwatch.org/what-is-tppa/

If Obama passes this, it will be the kiss of death to democracy and the seal of approval for fascism.