(Heard it all??) USTR labels PRIVACY REGULATIONS "trade barriers":

[Faryn Balyncd]

From the "We Thought We'd Heard It All" Department, (a report on the latest "2015 National Trade Estimate Report on FOREIGN TRADE BARRIERS, United States Trade Representative&quot :

USTR Michael Froman

In the more than 400 page long report, U.S. negotiators openly acknowledge goals that are odds with the Obama administration’s repeated assurances that TPP will not undermine the ability of pact members to regulate in the public interest.

. . . . In its report, the USTR also targets privacy regulations: A landmark Malaysian law that prevents companies from harvesting personal data without the individual’s consent is a trade barrier. As are policies in the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and British Columbia that require personal information in the custody of public officials to be stored and accessed only in Canada. . . .“As Canadians, we should be concerned,” says Sujata Dey, trade campaigner at the Council of Canadians, a progressive advocacy group. “Those rules are there to protect privacy.”

Other barriers include the expansion of a public health agency in New Zealand that subsidizes medicine at public hospitals into “areas of funding that were previously unregulated, including medical devices,” Japan's "burdensome restrictions" on products that carry "health claims," and enhanced Mexican inspections of U.S. peach, nectarine and apricot exports in order to “control the oriental fruit moth and other pests.”

Speaking at Nike headquarters earlier this month, President Obama called the TPP "the most progressive trade deal in history." The appeal to liberals comes as the White House seeks to win support for so-called fast track legislation. The bill would prevent Congress from amending the version of the deal hammered out by negotiators and is considered a prerequisite for the trade pact’s success.


http://www.ibtimes.com/push-trans-pacific-partnership-us-undermines-public-interest-policies-partner-nations-1931141

So, supposing a U.S. state erects a "trade barrier" in the form of a law outlawing the sale of personal data, and negatively impacts a transnational corporation's anticipated profits. . . .

What's amount of compensation from the taxpayers will an exempt from judicial appeal ISDR tribunal be inclined to award for this restriction on "trade"?

[NYC_SKP]

1. Yes. Human rights, environmental standards, privacy?

"TRADE BARRIERS"

Unbelievable. I can't stand it. Please make it stop.

[tularetom]

2. Is it just me, or

does our US Trade Representative look like noted war criminal and Hillary Clinton BFF Henry Kissinger?

I think he's full of shit about "trade barriers" regardless of who he looks like but it doesn't do anything to advance his case that he resembles that POS.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. I just read the comedy gold for Mexico

As well as the we are going to work to improve labor conditions in FTA nations....

I guess those cops going after the farmers in San Quintin for daring to demand slightly better pay is how we improve labor conditions in FTA nations...

Though now perhaps some folks will believe me when I tell them that Mexico is preparing the ground for TPP. by even changing it's constitution. No, labor reforms are not there, but the energy and communicates reform are.