This is so New Zealanders can better evaluate the trade deal's implications, the bishops stated.

The bishops acknowledge the right and duty of any New Zealand Government to promote the nation's trading opportunities.

And they are mindful that the well-being of New Zealanders depends on economic growth.

But the lack of transparency and public involvement on the TPP is a cause for great concern, the bishops stated.

"The sense of unease stretches across the community, and includes people in business, academics and unionists.

"Corporate interests are party to the TPP negotiations and able to exert influence in favour of their own interests, while the people are excluded.

"This leads to the belief that ordinary New Zealanders, and particularly those who are poorer, will be disadvantaged by the TPPA and all the benefits will accrue to those who already have considerable wealth.

"The bishops accept that secrecy may be the norm in ordinary trade agreements, but the TPP is more than just a trade negotiation.

"It has the capacity to reach into domestic economies, and to dictate what happens within a nation's own political and legal systems."

The bishops pointed to the parallel Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, where the European Commission has introduced measures to increase transparency and allow public scrutiny and consultation.

The bishops asked New Zealand's Government to give serious consideration to making the draft text of the TPP available, so that New Zealanders "are able to evaluate for themselves, according to their own principles, the potential negatives and positives of the TPP".

Last month, Bishop Charles Drennan joined a public protest in Palmerston North against the proposed trade agreement.

Sources

• New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference
• Stuff
• Image: Hoosier Ag Today

Although negotiators have agreed to the broad outlines of the TPP agreement, a new trade issue has created a snag in the process: the inclusion of investor-state dispute settlement provisions. Australia has refused to accept the investor-state dispute settlement, and U.S. industry associations are urging President Barack Obama to overcome these objections. These investor-state dispute settlement provisions have been included in U.S. investment treaties and trade agreements with more than 50 countries, and there are over 2,500 of these accords currently on record. These provisions, however, give advantages to large economies and can cripple small island states like Pacific Island nations.

Obama describes the TPPA as a "a trade agreement for the 21st century" that improves on and rectifies past problems in U.S. trade and investment treaties. Nine countries are currently negotiating the TPPA: the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore. Japan is in preliminary talks, and Canada and Mexico are looking to join. Although the negotiations are being held in secret, leaked documents confirm that the TPPA is a "NAFTA on steroids." Contrary to democratic practice, the documents connected to the negotiations will remain secret for four years after being signed or dismissed.

The United States is leading the negotiations and has a great deal of influence over the outcome of the agreement, which covers a vast range of subject matters, including tariffs on goods, trade in services, labor and the environment, telecommunications, and intellectual property. For Pacific Islands, however, the investor rights chapters may offer the greatest challenge to Pacific Island environmental resources.

Continue reading Vacuuming up the Pacific's resources

Image source: Celsias NZ