5 things to know about the Trans-Pacific Partnership - The US presidential campaign has shone a spotlight on the Trans-Pacific Partnershi...
The US presidential campaign has shone a spotlight on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal that is cooked on the burner back for years.
The two presidential candidates of the major parties opposed the agreement secretly negotiated among 12 countries in the Pacific region, including the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada and Singapore . China and Russia are notably absent from the negotiations.
While negotiators approved the final version in October, the United States has not ratified the agreement.
Here are five important things to know about TPP:
What in the TPP
The objective of the trade agreement, with the negotiations that began in 08, is to lower trade barriers, including tariffs between countries. The agreement also allows companies to request arbitration proceedings against countries they consider to be discriminatory towards their products.
The agreement also includes the rights of workers, the environment, and the provisions of the open Internet. But critics fear it will lead to a loss of US jobs, and many digital rights groups have protested the copyright and enforcement of intellectual property provisions of the agreement.
Although the agreement was negotiated in secret for years, the text is now available as lawmakers in the US and other countries are wondering whether to ratify the TPP.
The support and the opposition does not follow traditional political lines
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has made opposition to free trade agreements such as the TPP a centerpiece of his campaign. Democrat Hillary Clinton reversed the support she expressed while serving as secretary of state in the administration of President Barack Obama.
Meanwhile, Democrat Obama continued to push hard for passage, and many Republicans in Congress support the TPP.
Much of the opposition is not directly related to technology issues
Trump, and many Liberals oppose the agreement because of concerns that it will be easier for US companies moving jobs overseas, it will lower American wages due to competition from foreign workers and that this will increase the country's trade deficit.
Critics fear that the agreement will lead to a flood of foreign products in the United States without corresponding exports. Many opponents are also concerned that American jobs will go to the TPP countries like Vietnam and Mexico, where workers' wages are much lower.
But many groups and commercial technology companies support the agreement
Many technology companies and business groups see the deal as a way to sell more easily their products abroad. About 95 percent of the world population lives outside the United States, and technology companies see the Asia Pacific region as a growth market for them.
Among the technology trade groups supporting the TPP are the BSA, with members including Apple, Dell, IBM, Microsoft and Salesforce; Software and Information Industry Association, with members including Google, Facebook, Adobe Systems and Intuit; and the Consumers Association of technology, including members of Best Buy, FitBit, Newegg, Amazon.com, and Samsung Electronics.
TPP is a "leap forward" in trade agreements, Victoria Espinel, CEO of BSA, said earlier this year. The agreement will stimulate growth in the IT industry "by establishing the first ever solid and binding" trade rules for data flow across borders in a multilateral agreement, she said.
Tech related opposition revolves around the application of copyright
digital rights groups, including Frontier Foundation electronic and fight for future, protested the agreement, largely because it would expand the provisions implementing the copyright across the Asia-Pacific region.
The agreement would "consolidate" controversial pieces of copyright in the United States, including parts of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and limit the ability of Congress to reform copyright said the EFF. The agreement would expand the long terms of copyright in many countries from 50 years after the death of the author / creator to 70 years, and it requires signatory countries to reflect the provisions of the DMCA prohibits the circumvention of digital locks, or DRM.
Many critics have also protested secret negotiations of the agreement, saying trade agreements important political change should be discussed in the open.
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