Will Malaysia sign the TPP?

While compelling from the US standpoint, the TPP is a dangerous blueprint for future agreements.

COMMENT

By Saleh Mohammed

On October 4, 2015, negotiations for the above were concluded.

A couple months ago I expressed the hope that Malaysia would not sign it. I argued that even if we walked away we would not lose everything – the experience gained from the negotiations would be priceless.

As of today, our negotiators have not walked away.

From an American standpoint, the TPP is a compelling agreement. It includes the strongest commitments on labour and the environment of any trade agreement in history and those commitments are enforceable, unlike past ones. It would also entrench new international trade standards in Asia, and set a template should any other countries want to join.

For others, it is a dangerous blueprint for future agreements.

Although it is called a “free trade” agreement, it is not mainly about trade. Of its 29 chapters, only five deal with traditional trade issues.

A critical analysis shows that TPP will raise the price of goods especially medicine for millions by unnecessarily extending monopolies and further delaying price-lowering generic competition.

It will also go down in history as the worst trade agreement for access to medicines in developing countries. It will force them to change their laws to suit abusive intellectual property protections for pharmaceutical companies.

We have yet to see the full details of the agreement. I would strongly urge our lawmakers to carefully consider the specifics before they sign on the dotted line particularly:

The Exceptions Chapter which ensures that flexibilities are available to all TPP Parties and includes a self-judging exception. It also defines the circumstances and conditions under which a Party may impose temporary safeguard measures (such as capital controls) and to ensure that governments retain the flexibility to manage volatile capital flows; and

The Final Provisions chapter which specifies the procedures under which a Party can withdraw from the TPP.

By the way, the cost-benefit analysis (CBA) study on the TPP is long overdue. Hopefully, Teraju can give us an update.

But, how can I be so naive. How in the world can we have a CBA report if we do not have full details of the agreement?

Saleh Mohamed is an FMT reader