The TPP has few friends beyond Cabinet it seems. From the AFR:
BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie has backed a more open approach to trade in intellectual property, putting himself at odds with the US push for tighter IP rules in regional free trade talks.
“In a more networked world, services and ideas – and the trade in them happening more easily – will certainly accelerate the rate of progress and get the economic and social benefits,” Mr Mackenzie said.
Speaking as chairman of the Business 20 trade task force helping to shape the agenda for Australia’s Group of 20 leaders’ summit in Brisbane in November, Mr Mackenzie set a high bar for the bilateral and regional free trade agreements.
This is a fairly direct attack on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which is not a free trade trade agreement in anything other than name. It is a strategic document that seeks to tie US allies together in the region while furthering the interests of US corporations, most particularly via restrictions on IP.
One of the Abbott Government’s rationale’s for signing us up despite the high costs to the Budget in areas like health care is that it will advance the expansion of Australian mining IP into the region. BHP clearly disagrees.
