June 15, 2015
That’s what folks are asking after reading Peter Baker’s “news analysis” that told readers the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP):
“was a way to leave behind a positive legacy abroad, one that could be measured, he hoped, by the number of lives improved rather than by the number of bodies left behind.”
The discussion implies that the TPP is a way to pull together the countries of East Asia as allies. However, one of the main purposes of the TPP is to create stronger and longer patent and copyright protection. This will most importantly raise the cost of prescription drugs, but the prices of many other items will also rise due to increased protection.
We know that these increased protections were heavily contested by most of the other countries in the TPP due to the leaked chapters from Wikileaks which indicate where the countries disagree. It is difficult to see how making our trade partners in Asia pay more for drugs is a way to win their political allegiance. Ironically, insofar as higher drug prices keep patients from getting access to drugs, especially in developing countries, the TPP would be a policy whose impact could be measured by the number of bodies left behind.
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