Bantah TPPA has urged the government to immediately drop the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) talks after sighting a secret document which allegedly revealed that the United States had the upper hand on worrisome trade issues.

The group, which is a coalition of over 200 NGOs, said that it was time for Malaysians and not its trade ministers to decide the country’s future, and demanded that the government “must not waste any more time or resources to continue to be part of a lopsided and one-handed negotiation process”.

“Contrary to recent assurances by Trade Minister Mustapa Mohamed during the International Trade and Industry Ministry’s stakeholder briefing, Bantah TPPA continues to have reservation over the Malaysia’s position,” the group said.

“It is evident that America will not give up any more concessions, other than those that will come out as a disadvantage to Malaysia.”

The Wikileaks memo released today in two parts appeared to have been prepared prior to the Singapore TPPA Ministerial meeting this week. The memos, Bantah TPPA said, merely confirmed just how much pressure America is putting to the rest of the member countries in order to speed up the process. 
http://wikileaks.org/Second-release-of-secret-Trans.html?update

The Obama administration had initiated TPPA talks in 2010, involving 12 countries, and they were expected to come to a close soon.

Elaborating on the Wikileaks memo, Bantah TPPA said it was worried about these issues:
  • In the Intellectual Property chapter, the US was trying to sweep over differences amongst negotiating countries even though there were still some 119 major issues yet to be resolved in the IP chapter.        
  • On medicine costs, the USA has revived the transparency annex on medicines that will make it harder for governments to keep medicine prices down. Australia and Japan have now joined the USA on this proposal.
  • In the Investor State Dispute Settlement system (ISDS) chapter, Malaysia asked only for minor safeguards which will not help prevent lawsuits which it was bound to lose.
  • In the State Owned Enterprises (SOE) chapter, Malaysia has agreed to negotiate, as have all other TPPA  countries, and it was unsure that Malaysia would get the exemption that it wants.
  • In the Rules of Origin chapter, Mexico is applying strict yarn forward rule with no exceptions, eliminating Malaysia’s hope to sell more textiles and clothing to Mexico. Malaysia is also seriously considering excluding tariffs from its tobacco carve out.
  • Malaysia has also agreed to bind state governments in the TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade) chapter, whether or not if the federal government has consulted the states.
  • In the services chapter, Malaysia has agreed to the very problematic necessity test that makes it difficult to regulate services.