The Biggest Trade Agreement You’ve Never Heard of

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... The biggest expansion of free trade in a generation, the Trans-Pacific Partnership could reshape world trade in food and agriculture. Here’s the need to know:

What it is: The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a new trade agreement that eliminates over 18,000 tariffs and seeks to establish a shared approach to intellectual property, labor and environmental law. The partnership’s goal is to “enhance trade and investment among the TPP partner countries, to promote innovation, economic growth and development, and to support the creation and retention of jobs.”

It’s a parallel to the US-EU’s Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. ...

Who’s in: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States and Vietnam.

Who’s not: China, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand are among those outside the pact, which represents trade in agricultural products among the TPP countries represents US$ 311 billion. The deal is expected to boost agricultural trade among countries within the TPP area.

What does it mean for the advanced bioeconomy? Moving agricultural goods will be less costly, and face less regulatory differentiation from country to country. Expect US corn producers to have more attractive opportunities in export, for example, than selling to US mills for ethanol production. Specifically, it’s good news for ethanol, which faces tariffs entering into Japan and Vietnam.

Who’s opposed? US Liberal voices, for one. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts: “ISDS would allow foreign companies to challenge U.S. laws — and potentially to pick up huge payouts from taxpayers — without ever stepping foot in a U.S. court. Here’s how it would work. Imagine that the United States bans a toxic chemical that is often added to gasoline because of its health and environmental consequences. If a foreign company that makes the toxic chemical opposes the law, it would normally have to challenge it in a U.S. court. But with ISDS, the company could skip the U.S. courts and go before an international panel of arbitrators.” READ MORE