Joseph E. Stiglitz--Opinion: The secret corporate takeover hidden in the TPP

Corporations would be able to overturn laws and regulations that protect us

NEW YORK (Project Syndicate) — The United States and the world are engaged in a great debate about new trade agreements. Such pacts used to be called “free-trade agreements”; in fact, they were managed trade agreements, tailored to corporate interests, largely in the U.S. and the European Union. Today, such deals are more often referred to as “partnerships,” as in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

But they are not partnerships of equals: the U.S. effectively dictates the terms. Fortunately, America’s “partners” are becoming increasingly resistant.