The Obama administration is facing a furore over its latest tobacco proposal in trade talks with 11 Pacific Rim countries, with critics charging it will boost smoking in the region and business groups fighting back.
Michael Froman, US trade representative, brought a new offer on tobacco to the 19th round of talks on a Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement starting today in Brunei, in the hope of clearing one sticking point in the negotiations.
The US plan – as in many trade agreements – includes the right of countries to protect their citizens’ health without violating trade rules, but it also adds a reference to tobacco restrictions as being eligible for that exception.
However, groups campaigning against tobacco use around the world say it falls short of a specific carve-out that would quash legal challenges against tough tobacco laws. They argue it marks a shift from a more confrontational stance against multinational tobacco companies in TPP adopted earlier in Barack Obama’s presidency, when the USTR did support a more aggressive “safe harbor” for tobacco.
Publicación original: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/8398455e-0b4b-11e3-bffc-00144feabdc0.html
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