Forget tariffs, forget Obama’s promises. The whole point of modern ‘trade agreements’ is to whack pesky labor, environment and health laws, writes David Morris, and so empower capital and corporate power against regulators, governments and democracy itself. Unconvinced? Just imagine what these deals would look like if they were there to empower people.
New trade agreements like the TPP largely comprise a laundry list of corporate aspirations. To understand its bias, imagine: what if a trade agreement were designed to protect and nurture labor rather than capital?
What if a trade agreement were designed to protect and nurture labor rather than capital?
On 8th May at Nike’s headquarters, President Obama denounced opponents of the hotly contested Trans-Pacific Partnership as ill informed: