NEW YORK TIMES: The Communist government in Vietnam has agreed to American terms to grant potentially far-reaching labor rights to the country’s workers, including the freedom to unionize and to strike, in return for expanded trade between the former adversaries, according to the newly released text of a vast Pacific trade agreement.
Those terms were disclosed early Thursday, along with all 30 chapters and side agreements that make up the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a pact reached a month ago by 12 Pacific Rim nations that would be the largest regional trade accord in history. The agreement would end most tariffs and other trade barriers among countries that account for 40 percent of the global economy.
With the release of the text, Congress begins months of review and then debate. Votes for approval in the House and Senate next spring, amid a presidential contest in which the trade pact is an issue in both parties, are likely to be close… (more)
