THE Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was signed by the 12 member-states in Auckland, New Zealand, on Thursday, with ratification of the treaty’s text in each nation the next step in the process. The Philippines is definitely joining the TPP agreement, Trade Secretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. said in January.
We have repeatedly called attention to the negatives for the Philippines in joining the TPP, but a headline in another local newspaper exposes the real purpose behind TPP best: “Biggest ever trade deal signed as US seeks to counter China.”
As US President Barack Obama said: “TPP allows America—and not countries like China—to write the rules of the road in the 21st century.” That is certainly comforting, since it was the US that wrote the rules in the 20th century, and look how well that turned, especially for China. But this time, the US plans not to make the same mistakes of the past.
This time, countries like the Philippines, which had access to cheaper generic drugs in the 20th century, will not have that opportunity again. As the group Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières says about the TPP, “The US government is advocating for a trade deal that includes terms that will restrict access to generic medicines, making life-saving treatments unaffordable to millions.”
But there must be some advantages of the Philippines, otherwise why would the Philippine government officials be so enthusiastic about our joining? The answer can be found in some of the opposition in the US to the TPP, and that is jobs. Estimates are that, initially, some 500,000 US jobs will be lost to countries like the Philippines. Well, isn’t that enough reason for us to join?
Turn the clock back to colonial India. Hundreds of thousands were employed growing and harvesting cotton to be exported to England. England turned the raw material into textiles that were exported to India. Previously, India had been a major textile exporter, but Britain dismantled India’s advanced textile industry that was in direct competition to the developing British textile industry.
The idea that suddenly we would see a massive increase in exports to the US is unjustified. What are we going to sell them? The US’s largest imports are crude oil and cars, neither of which the Philippines produces. We already have a substantial portion of the US imports of integrated circuits, computers and office machine parts.
The government says the TPP will attract more US direct investment. Why? Twenty percent of foreign investment is already coming from the US, and it is going where US companies think they can make a profit. Which US auto manufacturers doing business in the Philippines? Which US telecom companies are trying desperately to get into our market? American aerospace company Boeing is building an assembly planet in China, not the Philippines.
The Philippines does not need the disadvantages of the TPP, particularly with the future positive impact of Asean integration.
Image credits: Benjo Laygo