Re:TTIP Secret trade deal can only be read in secure 'readin...
by tptacek on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @10:40AM
(#10079412)
That's true, but it's also true that labor is a party as well, as are many NGOs.
If you think about it, it's not very practical to craft a trade agreement with no input from industry. You just want to be very selective about which industries get to provide input and when.
The "democratic safeguard" part of this process should occur at the end, when unfair or broken trade agreements are unceremoniously rejected by legislatures. If legislatures did their jobs, the incentives to manipulate trade agreements would vanish: it would be a whole lot of time and effort spent for nothing.
If you think about it, it's not very practical to craft a trade agreement with no input from industry. You just want to be very selective about which industries get to provide input and when.
The "democratic safeguard" part of this process should occur at the end, when unfair or broken trade agreements are unceremoniously rejected by legislatures. If legislatures did their jobs, the incentives to manipulate trade agreements would vanish: it would be a whole lot of time and effort spent for nothing.