Malaysia''s TPPA Tobacco Plan Doomed from Start, Claims MP  

Source from:  Malay Mail (my)  12/13/2013

Malaysia's proposal to exclude tobacco from the on-going Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) would never get the nod from the United States due to wider implications it would have on the entire free trade agreement, claimed an opposition MP.

DAP's Klang MP Charles Santiago, who sits on the bipartisan parliamentary caucus on the TPPA, said it was clear from their meeting with US trade representative Michael Froman last week that the superpower won't make any concessions on the agreement.

"We had a long meeting with him and three others last Tuesday. He basically said that if they agree to carve-out tobacco, everyone will start asking for a carve-out," Santiago told The Malay Mail Online, referring to Malaysia's tobacco proposal.

"He explained that if they agree to a carve-out, it goes into all the different chapters (of the TPPA) and it is very problematic... the long and short of it is that there will be no carve-out for tobacco," he added.

Malaysia tabled the tobacco carve-out proposal during the Brunei Darussalam leg of the negotiations last August, to allow countries participating in the TPPA to maintain full control over marketing, advertising, banning or taxing tobacco products, while also protecting them from multi-billion dollar lawsuits by tobacco firms.

Reports on the latest round of talks in Singapore, which ended earlier this week, however claimed that Malaysia had "softened" its stance on the tobacco deal by submitting a "revised proposal" that dropped prohibitions on tariff reductions.

Global trade portal World Trade Online reported that the "new language" of the revised proposal removes the market access element - an apparent nod to demands from the United States to push tariff reductions on tobacco and tobacco products in the contentious agreement.

Santiago claimed that Malaysia has very little leverage in the negotiations, especially against the sort of diplomatic muscle that the US has employed to make sure the TPPA stays on track.

Of the 12 prospective signatories of the agreement, Malaysia is one of the few that has yet to sign any sort of trade pact with the US, he added.

"A lot of the other countries negotiating with them (US), like Japan and Singapore, already have an agreement with them. They are not so worried about other countries, they are worried about Malaysia.

"The diplomacy is shocking. You have (US Secretary of State) John Kerry, the US-Asean business council...  everybody is piling on the pressure on Malaysia," Charles said, referring to visits by top US leaders to Malaysia in recent months.

The situation is made worse for the country with talk that the US had employed the infamous "greenroom" tactic - as claimed in a leaked TPPA document posted online by whistleblower site WikiLeaks - which according to Charles is a sure-fire way to get any country to sign an agreement.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) describes the greenroom as a process where heads of trade delegations meet to seek an informal consensus on whatever issue at hand.

Charles, however, said that any leader who goes in as the subject of the greenroom won't stand a chance.

"In the WTO, none of the leaders want to go in the greenroom, because that's when they really put the pressure on you and all the dirty tactics come out.

"They (negotiators) can use financial pressure and all kinds of pressure to force you to agree to their terms. You go into that room, you come out with an agreement, because every pressure will be used to come to an agreement.

"When I read that they used the greenroom procees, the first thought that came to my mind was 'God save our souls'," he added.

US President Barack Obama has hailed the TPP as a centrepiece of renewed American engagement in Asia, saying it contains market-opening commitments that go well beyond those made in other free-trade accords.

But the complexity of the issues has already caused negotiators to miss the original 2012 deadline set by Obama to reach a deal, with the new target also looking unlikely.

The TPPA is a free trade agreement that has been negotiated by the US, Malaysia and nine other nations as part of the larger Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership since 2010.

Critics allege that the agreement has since been co-opted by powerful corporations to allow them to trample over existing consumer, worker and environmental rights in signatory countries.

A recent leaked TPPA document posted by whistleblower Wikileaks appeared to support criticism of the agreement, claiming it could only proceed if Asia-Pacific members of the negotiations are willing to make major sacrifices on national interests. Enditem