Policy Observatory
Since the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) was signed and its text released earlier this year, preventing the passage of that agreement through Congress during its upcoming lame duck session has become a top priority. But there's another secretive trade agreement lurking out of sight and out of mind, which is also scheduled for completion this year: the Trade in Services Agreement or TISA, which contains many provisions that are a virtual copy-and-paste out of the TPP's Electronic Commerce chapter.
With several big trade negotiation projects in disarray after the election of Donald Trump in the United States, trade critics gathered at the 11th Internet Governance Forum – the longstanding UN-affiliated gathering – in Guadalajara, Mexico. They sensed an opportunity for some frank talk on the attempts to include the internet in e-commerce and telecom chapters.