TAFTA (TTIP) Trade Deal will make any NewDeal in the future IMPOSSIBLE by globalizing US subcontract
by mandating international bidding on all kinds of government procurement.
it will mean lots of new L1 and similar visas must be issued to the winning bids firms, so they can perform the work they won by being low bidders.
From https://www.citizen.org/documents/tafta-procurement-factsheet.pdf
EU Negotiators Want TAFTA to Ban “Buy Local” and Other U.S. Procurement Policies, Offshoring U.S.Tax Dollars and Undermining Jobs
The Buy Local policies that create jobs by recycling tax dollars in our communities. The energy and climate policies needed to save our planet. The safety standards on which we rely daily for our food, medicines and cars. The new financial regulations designed to prevent banks from gambling with our money and creating another crisis. These are policies that should be determined in open, democratic venues where we have a say. But a group of the largest U.S. and European corporations want to rewrite these safeguards behind closed doors. For over a decade, they have pushed for a new U.S. “trade” deal with Europe
–
the Trans
-
Atlantic Free Trade
Agreement (TAFTA)
, which corporate proponents have tried to rebrand as the
Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP)
–
a deal
that would roll back consumer protections on
both
side
s
of the Atlantic.
European Union (EU) and U.S. negotiators launched TAFTA negotiations in July 2013 and plan to finish the
sweeping deal
by
next year
.
A “trade” deal only in name, TAFTA (TAFTA is TTIP) would require the United States and EU to conform government
procurement
programs
, climate policies,
financial laws and regulations,
food and product safety standards, data
privacy protections and other no
n
-
trade policies to TAFTA rules. This could include obligations for products
and services that do not meet domestic standards to be allowed under processes called “equivalence” and
“mutual recognition,” or obligations to actually alter domestic U.S. and EU
policies to conform to existing
international standards or to new trans
-
Atlantic standards negotiated to be more convenient to business. These
constraints on policy space
would be
binding. Failure to comply with TAFTA rules could result in trade
sanctions
. The pact would also newl
y empower foreign
corporations
to directly challenge public interest policies
and demand taxpayer compensation in extrajudicial tribunals.
E
U
Negotiators’
Goal:
Gut
U.S.
Programs
Fostering
Local
Job Creation,
Reduced Carbon
Emissions
A leaked EU position paper on TAFTA makes clear that
the EU intends to
use the agreement to
roll back
popular
U.S.
government procurement
policies
that ensure that government
construction
projects
and purchases
,
funded by U.S. taxpayers
,
are used to create U.S. jobs.
These localization policies
can
a
lso help limit carbon
emissions
by promoting local sourcing.
The
European
paper states a
s a
goal
to
: “
[e]
nsure that rules
on...
domestic preferences such as, but
not limited to, Buy America(n)...
do not restrict procurement
opportunities between the EU and the U.S.”
The paper lists specific
U.S.
states and cities being targeted for the
elimination of
policies
that
reinvest
U.S. tax dollars at home.
Targets for Gutting U.S. Buy Local Policies
from Leaked EU Negotiating Document
TARGETED STATES
TARGETED CITIES
Alabama
Alaska
Austin
Baltimore
Charlotte
Columbus
Georgia
Indiana
Denver
El Paso
Fort
Worth
Houston
Nevada
New Jersey
Jacksonville
Los Angeles
Louisville
Memphis
New Mexico
North Carolina
Milwaukee
New York
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
North Dakota
Ohio
Phoenix
Portland
San Diego
San Francisco
South Carolina
Virginia
West Virginia
San
Jose
Seattle
Washington
Under this EU plan for TAFTA
,
U.S.
policies
that favor domestic companies
for government contracts
–
job
creating
programs
supported by 90 percent of U.S. Democrats, Republicans and independents
–
w
ould be
gutted
with a Europe
-
sized loophole.
If TAFTA
would mimic
th
e
past
“free trade” agreements on which it is
being modeled,
TAFTA’s
procurement chapter would require that all firms
operating
in any EU country
be
provided
the same access as
U.S.
firms to
U.S.
government procurement contracts over a certain dollar
threshold. To implement this “national treatment” requirement,
the U.S. federal government and the states
and cities listed
by
the EU
would agree to
not provide any
preference to locally
-
produced goods and services
and
to
treat
all corporations
doing business
in the EU
the same as local
businesses
.
Under
a
World Trade Organization (WTO)
pact
,
the United States has already waived
certain
federal
-
level
procurement policies for EU
corporations
.
European negotiators want the U
nited States
to expand that
waiver of the federal Buy American policy.
But
they are
also seeking much more:
t
he leaked E
uropean
position paper bluntly seeks to access
“
sub
-
central
” government
contracts by rollin
g back state and local
governments’ Buy Local policies
,
used to
prevent offshoring
,
stimulate local job creation
and promote local
sourcing
.
In fact, the EU explicitly names in the paper the 13 specific U.S. states and 23 U.S. cities it is
targeting for
th
e
dismantling
of Buy Local policies.
See if your city or state is targeted in the table above.
The EU
TAFTA
procurement demands could
also
label as “illegal barriers” the
environmental, human rights,
and fair labor conditions
that federal and state governments often place on procurement contracts.
Requirements for recycled content in paper and other goods, or
that
energy
come
from renewable sources,
could be exposed to chal
lenge. TAFTA procurement terms could also
restrict
state
and local
governments
’
ability to
disqualify companies from government contracts because of labor, safety or environmental records
or practices, or because of the human rights or labor rights records
of the countries in which they operate or
are based. Policies requiring companies to agree to pay prevailing or living wages could also be challenged
under TAFTA’s procurement rules.
Investor Privileges:
European
C
orporations Empowered to Attack
Buy
Local
Policies
U.S. and EU corporations and officials have called for TAFTA to
grant foreign firms
the power to skirt
domestic courts, drag the U.S. and EU governments before extrajudicial tribunals, and directly challenge
Buy Local, Buy Green and
other pr
ocurement
policies that they view as violations of TAFTA
-
created
foreign investor “rights.” The tribunals, comprised of three private attorneys, would be authorized to order
unlimited taxpayer compensation for
domestic
policies
perceived
as undermining
for
eign
corporations’
“expectations
.” Such
extreme “investor
-
state” rules
have already been included in a series of U.S. “free
trade” agreements, forcing taxpayers to
pay firms more
than $4
4
0 million for toxics bans, land
-
use rules,
regulatory permits, water and timber policies and more. Just under U.S. pacts, more than $
3
4 billion remains
pending in corporate claims against medicine p
atent policies, pollution clean
up
requirements
, c
limate and
energy laws, an
d other public interest polices
.
For more information,
visit
stop
-
tafta.org
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