Trade talks for a Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement ended yesterday at the Hilton Hotel in the world’s fourth most economically powerful city in the world. It seems only fitting Chicago, a city with nearly a half a trillion dollars in economic output, played host to the eighth round of negotiations between nine Pacific countries.

United States Trade Representatives (USTR) played up the agreement as breaking new ground and being a 21st century-style trade agreement focusing on leveling the playing field and addressing regulatory coherence as well as furthering economic development in partnering countries.

“A single, high standard on labor for all participants will help to level the playing field for American workers, supporting and retaining jobs here at home. Additionally, the significant market-opening aspect of TPP is key: this deal will provide vast numbers of new customers for American-made goods and services, as well as American-grown agriculture. The more we can make at home and sell overseas, the more jobs we support at home,” said a USTR spokesperson.

Labor unions and fair trade advocates called the proposed agreement nothing more than a "NAFTA of the Pacific" and pointed to an Economic Policy Institute study showing Illinois lost 35,000 jobs alone due to its effects. USTR officials claim jobs that are supported by exports pay 13 percent to 18 percent more than the national average.

The Obama administration is currently being pressured by Republicans to move forward with three other free trade agreements that have been stalled during his time in the White House. Agreements with Panama, Columbia, and South Korea were negotiated four years ago, but Obama has asked they be accompanied with “trade adjustment assistance.” The idea is to provide aid and re-training for workers who will lose their jobs as the positions are exported to the countries in the new agreements, essentially offsetting many of the job gains found in the deal.

There is no word if such assistance will be included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement as well.

Fifty-seven stakeholder groups were invited to present their ideas to negotiators. Some of the groups involved included PETA, the North Dakota Farmer’s Association, The Hosiery Association, and Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.

“While the administration keeps touting this potential first Obama trade pact as a new 21st century model, and instead of implementing the many specific trade reforms President Obama pledged as a candidate to avoid more job loss and ensure import safety, it appears the administration is pushing for something like NAFTA on steroids with Vietnam and Malaysia,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.

The American Medical Association jumped into the free trade negotiations asking that tobacco and alcohol be excluded from the agreement. It comes in the wake of the World Trade Organization (WTO) claiming a ban on candy-flavored cigarettes and other products, in the hopes of combating youth smoking, violated WTO rules. International corporations, such as Phillip Morris Australia, are also trying to circumvent packaging rules in the agreement through an Obama-backed investor-state private enforcement system.

A further obstacle for the administration and fair trade advocates is the access to medicine in the developing countries involved in the TPP. Generic drugs are intrinsically cheaper than their brand name patent-protected counterparts. USTR officials released a white paper earlier in the week claiming their proposal increases access to the more affordable medications, when it instead included further patent protections drug companies could utilize to squash competition, which could have a devastating impact.

“Because generic manufacturers were free to make cheaper versions of AIDS drugs, the price of HIV treatment has fallen by more than 99 percent over the last ten years -- from over U$10,000 for one year's treatment in 2000 to as low as $60 today,” writes Tido von Schoen-Angerer from Doctors without Borders. "This is why I am alarmed by the U.S. pursuing measures that would strangle the production of generic medicines, and force the price of new drugs to remain high."

Other free trade agreements may finally be voted on as soon as October. The votes will come on the heels of Obama’s recently-proposed American Jobs Act comprised of nearly a half trillion dollars in tax cuts and infrastructure plans. Liberal groups may once again find themselves on the opposing end of the White House after the votes, which could prompt calls for a larger and/or more direct jobs plan.

The last round of negotiations are to be held in October in Lima, Peru. Trade negotiators hope to have a solid outline for the agreement in time for the November meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Honolulu.

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