- Aug 20, 2000
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Pretty fascinating article in The Atlantic pointing out how, without sops to American industry, the TPP deal that Canada and 10 other countries just agreed to sign is actually markedly improved in a number of areas - areas like intellectual property rights and most crucially how pharmaceutical patents are protected. As Doctors Without Borders puts it, the revisions are a major victory.
The new rules seem to have enticed Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and the United Kingdom to take another look at joining as well. China is still trying to get nations to sign on to its own version of the TPP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP) but possibly they'll they a look as well now...
The Atlantic - A Glimpse of a Canadian-Led International Order
The new rules seem to have enticed Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and the United Kingdom to take another look at joining as well. China is still trying to get nations to sign on to its own version of the TPP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP) but possibly they'll they a look as well now...
The Atlantic - A Glimpse of a Canadian-Led International Order
Exactly a year after the American withdrawal—the remaining 11 countries announced that they had completed renegotiating a new TPP without Washington. That sets up a perfect natural experiment about American influence in the world. And, at least as far as this one trade deal is concerned, the results are clear: Even in the absence of U.S. leadership, the world’s democracies will continue to trade and make rules for dealing with one another, but without some of the worst excesses of America’s corporate-influenced foreign policy.
...
The deal would have required other countries to adopt American-style intellectual-property provisions, which tend to be much stricter than in other parts of the world. Among other concerns for the EFF, TPP would have extended by decades the length of time authors can copyright their works, limiting what goes into the public domain. Tightened rules around who can access trade secrets would also have been “seriously dangerous for journalists and whistleblowers,” Malcolm said.
The humanitarian nonprofit Doctors Without Borders put it more bluntly. The original TPP “would have extended pharmaceutical company monopolies, kept drug prices high, and prevented people and medical treatment providers from accessing lifesaving medicines by blocking or delaying the availability of price-lowering generic drugs in many countries,” the organization wrote in a statement in November.
The revised TPP—now renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership—includes almost none of those controversial provisions on intellectual property. “The removal of a number of provisions from the CPTPP that are harmful to people’s access to medicines is a major victory,” concluded Doctors Without Borders.
What changed? “Canada took the lead on seeking amendments to the TPP’s deeply problematic intellectual property chapter,” wrote Michael Geist, a Canadian law professor. “The IP chapter largely reflected U.S. demands and with its exit from the TPP, an overhaul that more closely aligns the agreement to international standards was needed.” These issues were included in the deal because major American companies—not just pharma but also the software and entertainment industries—rely on strict intellectual property rules to make money, and their interests set the terms for the American negotiating team. Without America making those demands in exchange for access to its markets, it no longer made economic sense for other countries to accept them, said Malcolm.
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The biggest change is that the deal is much smaller. Without the U.S., it covers 14 percent of the global economy, down from 40. That means China will have less incentive to join in, as the deal’s architects had hoped. But membership is open to other countries—South Korea and Indonesia are near-term possibilities, and the U.K. has said it wants in, post-Brexit—which could still sway China’s calculus.
...
The deal would have required other countries to adopt American-style intellectual-property provisions, which tend to be much stricter than in other parts of the world. Among other concerns for the EFF, TPP would have extended by decades the length of time authors can copyright their works, limiting what goes into the public domain. Tightened rules around who can access trade secrets would also have been “seriously dangerous for journalists and whistleblowers,” Malcolm said.
The humanitarian nonprofit Doctors Without Borders put it more bluntly. The original TPP “would have extended pharmaceutical company monopolies, kept drug prices high, and prevented people and medical treatment providers from accessing lifesaving medicines by blocking or delaying the availability of price-lowering generic drugs in many countries,” the organization wrote in a statement in November.
The revised TPP—now renamed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership—includes almost none of those controversial provisions on intellectual property. “The removal of a number of provisions from the CPTPP that are harmful to people’s access to medicines is a major victory,” concluded Doctors Without Borders.
What changed? “Canada took the lead on seeking amendments to the TPP’s deeply problematic intellectual property chapter,” wrote Michael Geist, a Canadian law professor. “The IP chapter largely reflected U.S. demands and with its exit from the TPP, an overhaul that more closely aligns the agreement to international standards was needed.” These issues were included in the deal because major American companies—not just pharma but also the software and entertainment industries—rely on strict intellectual property rules to make money, and their interests set the terms for the American negotiating team. Without America making those demands in exchange for access to its markets, it no longer made economic sense for other countries to accept them, said Malcolm.
...
The biggest change is that the deal is much smaller. Without the U.S., it covers 14 percent of the global economy, down from 40. That means China will have less incentive to join in, as the deal’s architects had hoped. But membership is open to other countries—South Korea and Indonesia are near-term possibilities, and the U.K. has said it wants in, post-Brexit—which could still sway China’s calculus.
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