WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the U.S. prepares to host a virtual ministerial on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of the Trade Justice Education Fund, issued the following statement expressing disappointment over the lack of transparency and public participation in the IPEF negotiating process to date. Trade Justice was one of over one hundred organizations to sign a letter calling on President Joe Biden to embrace transparency in the IPEF negotiations.
“It’s discouraging that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework negotiations have begun with even less stakeholder participation than the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). For IPEF to achieve its goal of creating a new trade model that benefits working people across the region, it cannot be created in a close-door process that gives hundreds of corporate advisors privileged access to negotiators and draft texts, while shutting out most of civil society and the public.
“We are particularly concerned that Big Tech’s vision for the trade agreement could accelerate offshoring, workplace surveillance and worsening conditions for workers at home and abroad, while also undermining privacy and data protection for consumers. The public deserves the right to review and comment on what’s being proposed for IPEF in our names while there is still a meaningful opportunity to help set the pact’s direction.”