US senators may have put a brake on negotiations of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the EU amid concerns about US manufacturing jobs, but, as the Guardian rightly points out, this kind of trade deal could also have big impacts on developing countries (Report, 13 May).
At ActionAid we are tracking how the US and the EU are negotiating similar deals in Asia – the US and the EU with Vietnam and the EU with Burma – because of the implications for workers and their families. As the European commission’s own research suggests, the deal with Vietnam could put Vietnamese jobs at risk. It is likely to wipe out the country’s burgeoning machinery and automobile manufacturing industries, making Vietnam increasingly reliant on low-paid, low-profit trades such as making cheap shoes.
Under such agreements, governments will be prevented from protecting better-paid manufacturing jobs in other sectors. They could also allow EU and US companies to sue developing countries like Vietnam and Burma for changing their laws to protect their minimum wages. If US senators are worried about TTIP, we should be worried about these other deals too.
Ruth Kelly
ActionAid UK policy manager, London
