US Report shows zero Australian economic growth from TPP

US Report shows zero Australian economic growth from Trans-Pacific Trade agreement (TPP)

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released a report that shows Australia can expect zero economic growth from the TPP, even if all tariffs and other barriers to imports are removed,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Co-ordinator of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network, said today. “Since we know this most favourable outcome is unlikely, the report begs the question of why the government is continuing with negotiations which will be of no overall economic benefit to Australia.”

“The table on p.21 of the report assesses how much economic growth each TPP country would see if the TPP were to slash all tariffs (taxes on imports) to zero and remove all other import restrictions. This shows, despite the fact that there would be increases in agricultural trade between some TPP countries, the overall gain in GDP would be zero for Australia and five other countries, and very small gains for others over ten years,” said Dr Ranald

“The study did not attempt to assess the economic effects of the deal’s non-tariff provisions, some of which, like higher medicine prices and higher copyright costs, could be negative in Australia. This means .our government may be agreeing to US demands for the right of foreign investors to sue governments over changes to domestic law, known as ISDS, higher medicine prices, higher copyright costs and much more for an economic growth potential of precisely zero. The government should walk away from such a deal.”

ENDS

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