Opposing TPP for the wrong reasons
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American intellectual property rights — let’s call them what they really are, government-enforced monopolies — could be about to go global. For our nation’s most wealthy, that’s terrific news. To them, the trade deal isn’t about freer trade. It’s about keeping the toll booth open, collecting on ideas. It’s one way wealth flows uphill in America’s top-heavy distribution of income. In the case of patents, copyrights and trademarks, the trade deal is all about extending protectionism, not reducing it.
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Unfortunately, the foes of the TPP get many of their arguments wrong... Do reduced trade barriers kill American jobs? The evidence for that claim is weak. True, this country, in May, had 12.3 million manufacturing workers, down more than 4.4 million from 1993, the year the North American Free Trade Agreement took effect. Technology, far more than trade, accounts for the change. Manufacturing and service industries produce goods and services with fewer people — thanks to robotics, computer applications and the Internet. Labor productivity in the U.S. auto industry is more than double the rate today than in 1990.
Retailers struggle with customers shifting from bricks and mortar to online shopping. Newspapers, magazines and television have been crippled by new players drawing away advertisers and audience attention. Try to find a photo finisher to develop Kodachrome. Indeed, try to find Kodachrome. Foreign rivals haven’t driven turmoil in these industries.
Part-making in places like El Paso, Texas, would not exist without “twin” assembly plants in Mexico. It’s a good bet that factories in Mexico get more disapproving visits from members of Congress than their twin counterparts in the U.S. Idled middle-class workers lost billions in highly competitive fields such as autos, steel and textiles. But billions more were saved by consumers filling their carts with foreign-made goods.
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Worried about the flight of jobs and capital? Don’t keep or raise trade barriers. Instead, push Congress to change tax laws that allow corporations to hoard profits abroad or encourage companies to shift operations overseas... Fretting about the plight of U.S. workers? Toughen laws that impede union organizing and undermine labor bargaining power. A lot of the decline in unions is Made In America.
What about international forums imposing dirty air and filthy water on the United States, as a way of “harmonizing” environmental standards among the dozen countries covered by TPP? That seems highly unlikely. U.S. clean-air and water standards have popular support, despite the best efforts of the Koch brothers and other 21st-century anti-breathing robber barons. We have lived with NAFTA for 23 years. Environmental laws survive in this country, despite the best efforts of Republican and Blue Dog Democrat legislators and their puppet masters.
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The White House has highlighted the goal of getting Vietnam to lower or drop its 27 percent tariff on certain U.S. auto parts. Pop quiz: How many kazillion cars will Vietnam be making to merit such White House attention? And (for extra credit) why wouldn’t Vietnam automakers buy from cheaper suppliers — China, India or Malaysia — even without a tariff on U.S. car components?
The big bucks for those corporate lobbyists elbowing their way into trade talks can be found in extending U.S. patent, trademark and copyright protection to countries that have few or weak “intellectual property” laws. Knockoff drugs encourage U.S. drugmakers to charge far lower prices in other countries than at home. TPP could be a means for Big Pharma to raise prices in other parts of the world, where people can ill-afford higher health care costs.
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http://www.startribune.com/the-tpp-it-s-not-your-party-cry-if-you-want-to/311520221/