Citizen Trade Campaign has released this proposed text from the US on technical barriers to trade relating to medical devices and pharmaceuticals under the Trans Pacific Partnership
Leaks of US proposals for the Trans-Pacific free trade agreement reveal that the Obama administration has reversed reforms designed to enhance access to affordable medicines made during the George W Bush administration and is instead demanding new rights for pharmaceutical firms to challenge pricing and other drug formulary policies used by many developed countries to keep down prices,
On Monday 12 September the General Affairs Council approved negotiating mandates for investment
protection chapters in free trade agreements with Canada, India and Singapore.
For over four years now, India has been negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) - the largest trade and investment deal the country has ever embarked on. As much as New Delhi expects to lure the European market and investments closer to India, the actual consequences for the country’s economy could be dire: the open up of public procurement, the deregulation of the banking, automobile, retail and mining industries plus the adverse impact the deal will have in small-scale farmers make of this FTA a counter-productive undertaking.