The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive international trade deal between 12 countries including Canada, Japan, and the US, was signed on Monday after seven years of secret negotiations.
To anyone who hasn’t been obsessively following the drama leading up to today’s signing, that probably sounds boring as hell. You’re not totally wrong. But buried in the reams of dry legal jargon of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are stipulations that will affect everything from access to pirated movies and music, to government spying, to the price of life-saving drugs around the world.
Just as significant as the actual contents of the TPP is the process that led to its signing, which some critics have called anti-democratic. Talks have been carried out behind closed doors among a select group of government representatives and corporate advisors. Almost everything we know about the agreement’s contents comes from drafts of the chapters leaked to the internet, and the full text of the agreement is still secret.
Both the Canadian and US governments have released statements this morning describing, in broad strokes, what the final text of the TPP covers, however. Keeping these confirmations in mind, as well as previous leaks and speculation, here’s what you should know about the trade deal of the century.
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