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friendly_iconoclast

(15,333 posts)
Tue Jun 9, 2015, 04:24 PM Jun 2015

Confidential USTR Emails Show Close Industry Involvement In TPP Negotiations

http://www.ip-watch.org/2015/06/05/confidential-ustr-emails-show-close-industry-involvement-in-tpp-negotiations/

Note: also covered in LBN:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141113732

While a full range of stakeholders would be affected by the outcome of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement under secret negotiation by the United States and a dozen trading partners, corporate representatives have had a special seat at the negotiating table, as shown by hundreds of pages of confidential emails from the US Trade Representative’s office obtained by Intellectual Property Watch. The emails give a rare and fascinating perspective on how policy is developed in the trade office.

Years into the negotiation, the TPP is said to be nearing completion and is the subject of a US congressional debate over renewal of fast-track negotiating authority for the president (limiting Congress to a yes or no vote). But the TPP text has never been made available to the public of the countries negotiating it, except through periodic leaks of parts of the text, making these emails timely for the debate.

Through a US Freedom of Information Act request, Intellectual Property Watch has obtained some 400 pages of email traffic between USTR officials and industry advisors. Most of the content of the emails is redacted (blacked out), but they still give insight into the process.

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/USTR-FOIA-Mar-2015-1-of-4.pdf

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/USTR-FOIA-Mar-2015-2-of-4.pdf

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/USTR-FOIA-Mar-2015-3-of-4.pdf

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/USTR-FOIA-Mar-2015-4-of-4.pdf


A searchable version of these is available via the EFF:

https://www.eff.org/cases/ip-watch-v-ustr

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