Exposing the Trans-Pacific FTA in Southern California

Trade negotiators from throughout the Pacific Rim met in posh Beverly Hills and La Jolla, California in late January and early February in an attempt to hammer out the details on the largest Free Trade Agreement that the U.S. has ever seen.  Corporate lobbyists are pushing hard for a business-as-usual pact that many worry could become a massive new “NAFTA of the Pacific.”  Meanwhile, CTC and its partners have working to drag the negotiations into the light of public day.

Behind closed doors, trade ministers and corporate lobbyists (approximately 600 of whom have official advisor status) are pressing for a NAFTA-style deal that would, among other things:

• Encourage offshoring of U.S. jobs and drive down wages
• Prevent effective regulation of Wall Street banks, insurance companies and hedge funds
• Provide new tools for attacking environmental and consumer protections
• Give big-pharma the power to stop generic AIDS drugs and other medications