by Daily Bell Staff
The Daily Bell
Leaked papers show ‘unsurprising’ TTIP disagreements: Dutch trade minister BusinessEurope May 2, 2016 The lack of agreement between the US and Europe on a controversial trade agreement is unsurprising, Dutch trade minister Lilian Ploumen said on Monday. The minister was commenting on the leak of confidential negotiating documents relating to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership which have been published by environmental group Greenpeace. – Dutch News
TTIP and its sister agreement TPP are not “business as usual,” as the Dutch trade minister implies (see above).
Born in secrecy, marinated in furtiveness, the trade treaties are obviously being developed for purposes other than “free trade.”
In fact, it is oxymoronic to speak of negotiated treaties of any sort as “free.”
Treaties that are negotiated over a long period of time often have adjectives like “free” attached to them. But this is only to try to make what is finalized more palatable.