The TPP Is Going Nowhere Fast

Despite the recent disastrous ruling on Net Neutrality in the US, internet users can breathe a little easier these days knowing that the TPP is currently under attack from all sides and negotiations between its two biggest countries are stuck in the mud.

The TPP is a 12-country trade deal that would give big media gatekeepers like the MPAA and RIAA the ability to effectively censor the web of anything that remotely resembles infringement of their content. It also extends copyright terms for no apparent public benefit, but I can't imagine Walt Disney is spinning in his grave over the news that his beloved characters will remain cash cows. Essentially, a succession of revolving door lobbyist-bureaucrats, in conjunction with industry "stakeholders," have been attempting to use the TPP to export the most restrictive parts of US copyright law to 11 other countries.

Almost all mainstream media coverage of Obama's big trip to Asia has so far focused on talks between Japan and the US to reduce tariffs protections on agriculture and autos. This view is too simplistic and too narrow. "The issues that are being discussed—rice, beef, pork, automobiles— are old. It's déjà vu, when I look at it I think, my God, this discussion hasn't changed since 1980. And yet they're having trouble coming to some minimal arrangement on that," explained Clyde Prestowitz, a former US Trade Negotiator for East Asia.

The TPP isn't your average agreement—it's a trade deal with a giant side of policy laundering. In addition to some tariff cuts, the TPP contains a number of frightening provisions that would hurt the environment, restrict access to lifesaving drugs, and seriously damage basic digital rights. These kinds of things would never get passed with voter consent, so business interests are doing an end run around the democratic process to get them into law.

Ironically, this same secretive, lobbyist-driven process has contributed greatly to its current mess. Even the New York Times has come out against the secrecy, saying that "the Obama administration also needs to do much more to counter the demands of corporations with those of the public interest," since "big corporations are playing an active role in shaping the American position" while "public interest groups have seats on only a handful of committees that negotiators do not consult closely." This lopsidedness is completely at odds with reality and public opinion: a roundup of anti-TPP petition signatures by digital rights group OpenMedia counted over 2.8 million voicings of disapproval by internet users so far.

The deal has been a corporate wish list from the beginning, and it's now become clear that with elections approaching, Obama won't be able to sell his own party on the TPP's merits. Hundreds of Democrats in Congress are staging a revolt, offering no support for the President's "fast-track" bill. They're not convinced that what they've seen would be good for anyone except the US Chamber of Commerce. In a press call, US Rep. Keith Ellison complained,

"USTR Reps. will come in and show you a few pages, but it'll be difficult to understand, the staff can't participate, and then they leave and you're no better off, but they get to say "oh you saw it." We didn't really see it, not in any meaningful way. And so at the end of the day, we cannot support trade promotion authority because our job is to look after the public interest, not the private gain of certain multi-national corporations."

Getting fast-track approval is the key piece of the puzzle for Obama and the TPP, since without it any congressional approval of the agreement would undoubtedly reject or amend many TPP provisions. In this context, it's not surprising that the Japanese and ten other countries won't be inclined to offer any concessions when the biggest economy in the world is certain to change its mind after the fact. Observers have predicted that the negotiating standstill could last until 2017 thanks to US midterm and presidential elections.

The TPP's threat to the internet is now stuck in a sort of suspended animation, since trade agreements can linger a long time in apparent failure before being quickly settled and passed after a breakthrough. Opponents shouldn't pack up and go home, but instead push for more transparency. With enough sunlight, there's a chance that the TPP could be steered away from the corporate wishlist we've seen so far.

When it's entirely probable that lawmakers and citizens in TPP countries have learned more about the TPP from Wikileaks than from their own administrations, there's a fundamental breakdown in democracy going on. If negotiators want to eventually close this deal, they might want to consider opening it up first.

Chris Malmo is a donor relations coordinator at OpenMedia.

@chrismalmo