Auckland, New Zealand. That city may be ground zero for where the final fight against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will take place if New Zealand officials get what they want. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, all 12 countries will partake in a signing ceremony.
There are many battles that have been and will be fought between citizens and world governments when it comes to the TPP. One of the battles that was fought was to simply bring the TPP, and its contents to light. This battle was largely won thanks in part to organizations like KEIOnline, Wikileaks, and countless individuals who both helped to expose the text and report on the developments and revelations.
The revelations that surrounded the text both before and after have sparked near universal condemnation from around the world from organizations such as human rights, environmental, digital, and a whole lot more. That let to the global protest movement to try and stop the advancement of the TPP.
Ultimately, the TPP was finalized and, as we noted earlier, this signaled the next battle front. The next step for the few that are actively supporting the TPP was to get the TPP signed. Signing off on the agreement is the last step before countries begin ratification. So, the natural next step was to try and stop the signing of the agreement.
According to a report from Radio New Zealand, that battle may be lost. From the report:
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said New Zealand had offered to host the signing in early February.
It said arrangements were still being finalised as TPP partner countries completed their domestic procedures to sign it.
Last week the Chilean government announced the signing would be taking place in New Zealand on about 4 February, but duty minister Simon Bridges said at that time arrangements had still to be confirmed.
The 12 countries which are signing the agreement are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam.
Luckily for the many that are fighting the so-called “deal”, the signing hasn’t happened yet and there is still time to mount opposition. Unfortunately, time is starting to run short as February is only a month away now.
If all 12 countries sign, that would mark a significant blow to citizens and consumers in those 12 countries. The reason is that the TPP would then spread to lawmakers as the policy fallout drifts from Auckland. From there, world governments could begin the ratification process. The process would be citizens last stand to stop the agreement from affecting the law books.
The battle isn’t over yet, but the fight is shifting to the TPPs side.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
