“Exports of chocolate to Europe have turned into a nightmare of paperwork and delays, making fine British chocolate scarce in Europe,” The New York Times reports.
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Offering asides, recommended links, blogworthy quotations, and more, In Brief is the Northwest Progressive Institute's microblog of world, national, and local politics.
“Exports of chocolate to Europe have turned into a nightmare of paperwork and delays, making fine British chocolate scarce in Europe,” The New York Times reports.
LaunchIf the electronics industry sneezes, few places will catch a cold as quickly as Portland, Oregon.
Launch“Canadian negotiators are demanding the United States roll back so-called ‘right to work’ [fire at will] laws – accused of gutting unions in some U.S. states by starving them of money – as part of the renegotiation of the North American free-trade agreement. The request is part of a push by Ottawa to get the U.S. and Mexico to adopt higher labour standards under the deal,” The Globe and Mail reports.
Launch“These companies used to sell heroin and Agent Orange. Now, they want to form the world’s largest supplier of seeds and pesticides,” reports Bloomberg’s Lydia Mulvany. Yuck! NPI fiercely opposes this merger and will ask the governments of the United States and Europe to block it.
LaunchOpposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership is mounting in Australia, where critics have a stronger hand after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s party lost seats in recent parliamentary elections.
LaunchAre you ready to help defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Join progressive activists and socially conscious musicians for a free concert and rally against the disastrous
Launch“The popular fury over trade policies that have devastated American communities is rarely taken seriously by the political and media elites that keep trying to narrow the national political discourse into an endless loop of empty discussions about personalities and tactics. But trade is a huge issue on the ground in states where Americans actually vote,” writes The Nation’s John Nichols.
Launch“Opposition against a proposed natural gas-to-methanol plant in Tacoma grew Thursday night with a unanimous vote against the project by the Federal Way City Council.” KING5 reports.
LaunchTechDirect’s Mike Masnick reacts to the news that the twelve nations involved in the gargantuan Trans-Pacific Partnership have “signed” the pact. The TPP has been called a trade deal, but most of the TPP’s provisions actually have more to do with creating rules favorable to multinational corporations that could trump national laws intended to protect important things like individual privacy and manufacturing jobs than lowering barriers to trade.
LaunchThe United States, which sees itself as the champion of entrepreneurship, has devised a deal that seems designed to make it harder for new high-tech
LaunchThe clock is ticking on a time bomb that could blow up a free Internet: the TPP “The agreement poses a grave threat to our
LaunchCanada’s technology sector a big loser in final TPP deal, BlackBerry cofounder says The Globe and Mail talks to former BlackBerry co-CEO Jim Balsillie, Tamir
LaunchPBS reports: “Just days after the U.S. and eleven nations released a monumental trade deal that still faces a fight in Congress, Hillary Clinton says she would not support the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Speaking with Judy Woodruff Wednesday, the Democratic presidential candidate said that as of today, given what she knows of the deal, it does not meet her bar for creating jobs, raising wages for Americans and advancing national security.” Click the video above to see the interview.
LaunchTen questions about the Trans-Pacific Partnership “The Trans-Pacific Partnership is the largest trade agreement in history. But what’s really inside it? The devil, and perhaps
LaunchMajor business group stops fundraising for Republicans due to Ex-Im Bank charter expiration Republicans are starting to suffer some political repercussions from the business community
LaunchFooling his people may buy Mr. Putin time, and Russians are famously capable of sacrifice. But time and sacrifice will be useful only if Mr.
LaunchStalled TPP negotiations catch Canadian conservatives off guard The Globe and Mail reports on the stalled Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations from a Canadian perspective.
LaunchWhat really needs adjusting here today is the no-compromise, no-amendment attitude on trade… This vote wouldn’t be so close if this process hadn’t been so
LaunchWhy Obama is wrong and Warren is correct on fast-track, TPP Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren has warned fellow Democrats that a bill to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership
LaunchIf the president is so confident it’s a good deal, he should declassify the text and let people see it before asking Congress to tie
LaunchThe only thing weaker than sweatshop-king Nike’s empty promises is the White House’s willingness to hype them as a victory in its push for a
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