It’s unclear what South Africa’s attitude will be to negotiating new deals with the UK and the EU. In the past seven years it has lost its appetite for trade deals, particularly with the developed world.
Leading progressives including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have been very vocal in opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Here’s why they should get on board.
In 1872, free traders split with the young Republican Party, ran a third-party candidate against Ulysses S. Grant and sparked 100 years of GOP protectionism. Is history repeating itself?
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is one of President Obama’s biggest accomplishments of his second term. Can it survive the anti-trade tide in the race to replace him?
Supporters of the campaign to get Britain out of the European Union are touting the prospects for trade deals around the world. The true prospects, however, are far from benign.
Countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership signed the deal earlier this month, but changes can still be made to improve the mechanism that allows investors to sue states.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership has been described by its backers as a boon for development. But with no concrete commitments, nor any mention of climate, it is really at odds with the UN development agenda.
Japan’s decision to lower or eliminate tariffs on rice, pork and beef may end up giving the prime minister a headache as he tries to get the trade accord through Parliament.
Amy Auster, Australian Centre for Financial Studies
Trade minister Andrew Robb must now “sell” the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership - he could do worse than to concentrate on how our services sector will gain.
Before the last round of negotiations, only a handful of issues remained in the way of concluding the TPP. A potential deal-breaker for Australia was intellectual property protections for biologics.
The federal government want to stop green groups from using “lawfare”. But proposed changes threaten to seriously curtail public interest litigation in Australia.
Disputes over intellectual property and car parts are emerging as last-minute hurdles as negotiators race to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership ahead of elections.
Japanese negotiators in Maui appear to be bending to American pressure to accept more US rice imports. The flood of grain, local farmers say, will end their way of life.
Unions have warned that there is no clear statement in the China-Australia free trade deal that says foreign and Australian workers have to receive the same conditions and pay. Is that correct?
The fierce debate in the US Congress that almost derailed the president’s trade agenda is likely to replay itself in many of the 11 other capitals that are party to the deal.
Research Fellow, NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in the Social Determinants of Health Equity, School of Regulation and Global Governance, Australian National University