Tag Archives: Trade

Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore

This morning/afternoon.

Further to Tanaiste Leo Varadkar’s defence of Ceta, the free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada…

…where he hailed a report by Copenhagen Economics, commissioned by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, into the costs and benefits for Ireland arising from four recently concluded EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) – Canada, Korea, Mexico and Japan.

Jennifer Whitmore, Social Democrats TD and the party’s spokesperson on the environment, climate and communications, writes (full article at link below):

…There is no question but that the Ceta deal will boost trade, but the benefits are lopsided. While Irish exports to Canada are expected to be 31 per cent higher by 2030, imports from Canada will increase by 84 per cent.

The newly published study by Copenhagen Economics for the department, which cost €28,000 to produce, is being used by Varadkar as a rationale for the ratification of the free trade deal with Canada, despite the vast majority of the report comprising an analysis of three other FTAs.

To put this in context, the consolidated Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta) text is nearly 1,600 pages long. The Copenhagen Economics’ report is just 79 pages – and fails to even mention the most controversial aspect of the deal, the investor court system (ICS), which gives multinationals the right to sue governments who curtail their freedom of action as investors.

Perhaps the Government didn’t have time to commission a thorough report. It had attempted to rush through ratification of this hugely complex deal after just a 55-minute Dáil debate in December. That effort only failed because a sustained public outcry about such a truncated debate forced the Government to defer it.

Now, this fig-leaf report is being brandished as evidence of the Government having done its due diligence when, in reality, it is a cursory analysis of four separate trade deals, which concludes that almost all of the cumulative economic benefits to the State flow from just one agreement, the trade deal with Japan.

It is also noteworthy, that the trade element of Ceta – which has seen the reciprocal removal of nearly 99 per cent of tariffs between the EU and Canada – has applied since September 2017. Therefore the State is already reaping the economic benefits of the deal. The element which has yet to come into force, and which is dependent on EU member state ratification, is the portion of the deal concerned with investment protection, which includes the highly contentious ICS.

In Dáil debates, when concerns regarding the ratification of Ceta are posed to Varadkar, he invariably issues a boilerplate response which includes a vague reference to a sustainability impact assessment undertaken on behalf of the EU into the entirety of the deal.

One wonders if he has ever read this impact assessment, because it unambiguously recommended that the investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) regime, of which ICS is a variant, should be excluded from Ceta and replaced with a state-to-state enforcement mechanism.

Given that the EU’s own impact assessment recommended dropping ISDS from the final deal, it is bizarre it has been retained – albeit, in a slightly improved format – as ICS. Despite these changes, the core elements of the dispute mechanism remain the same. ICS allows large corporations to leapfrog domestic and EU courts and take cases against governments to specially-created tribunals when policy decisions impact their bottom line.

Meanwhile, Ceta’s supposed ability to insulate public policy decisions from attack by investors contains an express exception. If the impact of a decision in important public policy areas is deemed excessive, investors can pursue a case against a member state, even if the policy decision was implemented in the public interest. [More at link below]

Canada trade deal comes with strings attached, Mr Varadkar (Jennifer Whitmore, Irish Times)

Leo Varadkar: Ireland needs a trade deal with Canada (irish Times, April 28)

Meanwhile…

This morning.

“(I was) strongly critical of the whole approach down through the years, down through the decades in international trade, particularly around the dispute resolution where the environmental community among others like social justice organisations said that the power of the corporations within that was too strong, so that was our primary concern regarding CETA and other trade deals that were being done.

“But, there are three developments in the last three years that give me reassurance, some of those concerns are starting to be addressed in a way that is progressive.”

Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan on RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland.

Eamon Ryan says he will urge Green TDs to change their mind on CETA (Independent.ie)

Meanwhile…

FIGHT!

Awkward, in fairness.

CETA?

Update:

Meanwhile…

Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore TD, who is the party’s spokesperson for Climate Action and Biodiversity, said:

“With this trade deal comes a very controversial mechanism which allows companies to sue an EU member state for potential profits lost if a Government decides to change their policies or regulations.

“This will be devastating for many reasons, including in the area of health and housing, but also in in relation to the Government drafting legislation and policies to tackle climate change and biodiversity. If a company feels a Bill or policy drafted to mitigate climate change might negatively impact on their profit margin, it could technically sue the Irish Government under CETA.

“Furthermore, all of this would be settled in special tribunals held outside our own justice system in a non-transparent manner. This is hardly appropriate in an age where transparency and due diligence is a basic requirement in a democracy.

“The chilling effect of this deal could be enormous as the Government is already wary of legislating strongly for climate action for fear of being held up in court. CETA will reduce the Government’s capacity for stronger decision-making, which is what we need in our fight against climate change.

“If companies can sue the Irish Government for compensation, not only will the taxpayer be out of pocket, but our ability to mitigate climate change and protect our biodiversity will be diminished. We cannot afford for that to happen.”

Previously: The Set Menu

Take that, United Kingd…

Ah here.

Bad news for the ‘Global Britain’ Brexiters (FT)

Haven’t the foggiest.

Stop shouting.

The European Union and the US are to begin negotiations for the BIGGEST bilateral trade agreement ever.

“The EU and US have decided to take their economic relationship to a higher level by agreeing to launch negotiations for a comprehensive trade and investment agreement. When negotiations are completed, this EU-US agreement would be the biggest bilateral trade deal ever negotiated – and it could add 0.5% to the EU’s annual economic output.

 

In a joint statement (MEMO/13/94), President of the United States of America Barack Obama, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy stressed that through this negotiation, the United States and the European Union will have the opportunity not only to expand trade and investment across the Atlantic, but also to contribute to the development of global rules that can strengthen the multilateral trading system.

 

“The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership will aim to go beyond the classic approach of removing tariffs and opening markets on investment, services and public procurement. In addition, it will focus on aligning rules and technical product standards which currently form the most important barrier to transatlantic trade. Studies show that the additional cost burden due to such regulatory differences is equivalent to a tariff of more than 10%, and even 20% for some sectors, whereas classic tariffs are at around 4%.”

This is a good thing, right?

Anyone?

More here