75+ U.S. Groups: USTR Must End TTIP/TAFTA Secrecy

Yesterday, more than 75 labor, environmental, consumer, transparency, agriculture, and other U.S. groups and academics sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman calling on USTR to increase transparency in the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) negotiations (also called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP).

The letter notes that while the European Commission has published the "actual language and binding commitments" it has proposed for TTIP, the U.S. government has thus far failed to make any textual proposals or negotiating texts public. “If the EU is willing to publish its textual proposals, there is no reason why the U.S. cannot immediately release its own textual proposals as well,” the letter said. “This significant change from present practice would be a major step toward the release of composite draft texts after each round. It would also help produce trade negotiations guided by the principles of democracy, transparency, and political accountability.”

USTR has been repeatedly criticized for excessive secrecy in its negotiations of TTIP and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a controversial "free trade" agreement with 11 other countries in the Pacific Rim. Experts and civil society have pointed out that while the public and the press are not allowed to see the negotiating text for either of these agreements (and Members of Congress were only granted very limited access after years of demands), more than 500 so-called "trade advisors," nearly 9 out of 10 representing corporate and industry interests, have special access.

The European Commission's move to publish its textual proposals proves that USTR's extreme secrecy measures, which it has repeatedly defended, are completely unnecessary. USTR should – at the very least -  follow the Commission's lead so that the American public can see for themselves who exactly stands to benefit from these trade deals that are being negotiated in their name.

Comments

[Dominic de Bellis]

500 years ago Machiavelli said the best dictatorship operates under the appearance of democracy. These secret negotiations make him look like a seer

[Chris Grimley]

Michael Froman has no intention of any kind of transparency, which would make it harder for him to lie.

[Laurie Ann LaGoe]

Watch out when your life and future are kept secret from you! That means that when one's life is in the hands of other people especially when that person is kept in the dark, it mostly will mean suffering and misery.

Those trade agreements are really corporate global feudalism.

[Laurie Ann LaGoe]

Nestle is sucking the water out of the ground in drought stricken California. It seems to me the corporations want a class of people to have nothing to live on except for the saliva in their mouths.

Water keepers' alliance and Earth Justice both talked about environmental racism. Fracking and mountain top removal are in poor white areas. How hypocritical it is to crack down on alcohol, drugs and tobacco while at the same time destroying the environment!

[Sue E. Dean]

Americans are overwhelmingly against this secret trade deal. NO TO THE TPP!

[Emily P]

If our government doesn't trust us enough to tell us what is happening in our own country, what hope is there for a beneficial, or in the very least mutual, relationship between the U.S. citizens and the TTIP or TTP?