June 13, 2015
The media seem to be getting better about referring to the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a “free-trade” agreement. Many articles now refer to it more neutrally as a “trade pact.” The Washington Post sort of split the difference today in describing it as a “a sweeping free-trade and regulatory pact,” but this still requires some further push back.
We know that the TPP will increase patent and copyright protections. These protections cover a large portion of the economy, most importantly prescription drugs, but also a wide variety of chemicals, tech products, and recorded movies, music, and video games.
We don’t know how much trade barriers will be reduced by the TPP. (The deal is secret.) Since the United States already has trade deals with most of the countries in the TPP, it is unlikely that it will lead to a further reduction in the barriers with these countries. This means the TPP will likely only reduce the barriers with the remaining five countries which include Japan, with whom the barriers are already relatively low, and four countries with whom the U.S. has relatively little trade.
There is no basis for assuming that the reduction in barriers with this group of countries will have greater economic significant than the increase in patent and copyright protection. Therefore, the reporters who call the TPP a “free-trade” agreement are simply editorializing, expressing their support for the pact. They do not have any evidence to support this characterization.
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