The Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement is being negotiated between the U.S. and eight countries around the Pacific Rim, Peru, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam, with Mexico, Japan, and Canada all expected to join. With negotiations taking place behind closed doors in Los Angeles this week, civil society is trying to raise serious questions about the deal, which is likely to be the largest FTA in U.S. history. Over 600 corporate advisors have access to negotiations — which deal with everything from labor and environmental rights to access to medicines and food safety — while the public from each of the countries is almost completely shut out. Please join experts from several fields as we discuss some of potentially far-reaching implications of the deal, and lead the way on how to prevent the Trans-Pacific FTA from becoming "NAFTA of the Pacific."

The strategy seems to be to set up "free" trade with a lot of small countries rather than the larger countries (China).

URLs:

http://uscdornsifehub.com/2012/01/26/trans-pacific-free-trade-agreement-panel-monday-night-jan-30/

http://www.facebook.com/events/257591884314781/