Curious About the Biggest Trade Deal in History? Sorry, It's Classified Patrick Winn - Global Post
go to original May 6, 2014

Wikileaks publishes leaked draft of secretive international agreement TPP. Download the full secret TPP treaty IP chapter as a PDF here

The Trans-Pacific Partnership sounds deadly boring.

It’s not.

The potential impact on humanity from this proposed mega-deal is impossible to measure. TPP could bankrupt families in Kansas and enrich them in Kuala Lumpur. Or make patented medicine wildly unaffordable for sick people in poor places. Or even imprison citizens of 12 countries for pirating Game of Thrones episodes.

Or maybe, as its proponents claim, TPP could plug the US into Asia’s rising markets and give the global economy a needed jolt. Either way, if secured, it will be a corporation-friendly game changer for 800 million people.

The thing is, average people are banned from seeing its inner workings.

TPP, as it stands, is classified. The White House can see it. Leaders in negotiating nations can see it. About 600 reps from America’s most powerful corporations can see it.

But the American public is forbidden from perusing the deal, and the people they elect are barred from negotiations. Though Congress will eventually decide its fate, US lawmakers are increasingly frustrated at TPP’s intense secrecy. Given the way trade deals work on Capital Hill, they may get precious little time to review the colossal pact before deciding whether to make it law.

The secrecy has even riled up Obama’s own political camp.

See the original at Global Post

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