After the approval in the Senate of the Comprehensive and Progressive Treaty for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP, better known as TPP11), all that remains is for the Government of President Gabriel Boric to formalize the agreement. However, this will not happen until the so-called side letters or bilateral letters with other countries of the trade agreement are resolved.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonia Urrejola, warned that the ratification of the treaty can last “years”, which caused annoyance in some sectors and in front of which the foreign minister acknowledged that “the President’s decision to wait for the progress of the side letters has been criticized a lot”.
All this, in the midst of the division between the two governing coalitions against the TPP11. Let us remember that while I Approve Dignity (AD) has spoken out against the treaty, Democratic Socialism (SD) is divided in its support for the ratification of the agreement and the great point of discord is the mechanism of conflict resolution.
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One of those who reacted to the Executive’s decision to postpone the promulgation of TPP11 was former Foreign Minister Heraldo Muñoz (PPD), who maintained that although “we do not know the content of the side letters to the members of the treaty, we assume that they are requested to exempt Chile from the application of the investor-State dispute settlement mechanism contemplated in Chapter 9, section B of the CPTPP”.
Probably, said the former head of Foreign Affairs of the government of Michelle Bachelet, “not all the cards will be the same, depending on the situation with each country.” But the problem, according to Muñoz, “is that the countries of the bloc have bilateral trade or investment protection agreements with Chile, most of which already contemplate dispute settlement mechanisms almost identical to those of the multilateral treaty, so investors from those countries will be able to resort to such existing mechanisms. despite not having, hypothetically, the option of the CPTPP”.
“I think it is worth noting that the government wants to wait for answers to the side letters to proceed with the ratification and deposit of the treaty, the exclusive power of the President. But we assume that we are talking about a reasonable period of time so as not to delay,” the diplomat said.
Heraldo Muñoz said that the question is whether it will wait until all the answers are received or only a majority. In that sense, he remarked that New Zealand only obtained five positive letters out of ten to its request to exempt itself from the same mechanism. “Will the government’s criterion be to receive a certain amount of positive responses to ratify? We do not know, because the issue of side letters has been handled with a lot of opacity,” he said.
Ignacio Walker: “Chile cannot continue to be left behind”
For the former head of Foreign Affairs of the government of Ricardo Lagos, Ignacio Walker (DC), it is “very strange” that after four years of processing in both chambers of Congress the Government “takes additional time” to process the lateral letters that, in his opinion, are “absolutely extemporaneous”.
The former DC senator insisted that the discussion “must be negotiated within the process and not once it expires” and explained that “we are facing a completely stagnant economy.” Then, pointing to the government coalition – I approve Dignity – he questioned the Executive’s reasons for “buying time”.
For former Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker, Apruebo Dignidad “is marked by an ideological prejudice,” therefore, “what prevents this from advancing faster is the prejudice that exists in the Communist Party and in the Broad Front.”
“I call on President Boric to make use of his powers and promulgate this agreement as soon as possible, because we are falling behind,” the former deputy told La Moneda, arguing that “there is a lag on the part of Chile, which used to be the vanguard in this matter.”
“I hope the President will sign this treaty into law as soon as possible, because we have already taken four years. Chile cannot continue to be left behind, at a time when there is a very complex economic situation,” he concluded.
José Miguel Insulza: “Let’s not put together the story now that the President has the last word”
Being very happy with the approval of the treaty in the Upper House, the former foreign minister of the government of Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, the current senator for Arica and Parinacota, José Miguel Insulza (PS), also referred to the recently ratified TPP11 and the position of the Governmentor.
“Chile has grown a lot towards the Asia Pacific and to have rejected this treaty would have been very harmful,” Senator Insulza began, recalling that “the last time the deposit of a treaty was not made is the one ratified by Congress on human rights, prior to September 11 and it was Pinochet who did not make the deposit of this.”
Therefore, “we cannot do something similar today, let’s not put together the story now that the President has the last word,” warned the socialist legislator.
“This advance for me is important, I have always said that it is a good treaty, it unites American nations, Oceania and Asia Pacific, but a fierce campaign was carried out a few years ago, in fact, many countries were made noisy by the clauses that the United States was entering into this treaty. When Trump came to power, with harsher language, many were frightened, and in that climate in Chile a campaign of No to TPP 12 emerged,” Insulza added.
The senator indicated that “Trump decided that he would not be in this treaty some time later, therefore it was transformed into TPP 11, among countries with medium economies, which do not create any problem for Chile, but for some reason he continued to speak against the treaty, perhaps for political or ideological reasons, shouting that this treaty was harmful to Chile, that we could not industrialize, that seeds, that copper or sovereignty.”
With the passage of time, and returning to the current moment, in the opinion of the former head of Foreign Affairs, “this ended up having repercussions on the Government of President Boric, who could have withdrawn the treaty from Congress, but did not do so, understanding with this clearly that, being the President of all Chileans, he began to think that these things were useful and necessary for the country and all the stories that were said about this, they are not only fake news, but, in cases such as native seeds, they are excluded from international trade.”
The PS parliamentarian concluded that, “in relation to the dispute resolution system, Chile has lost only once in this, but for some reason someone in this country thinks that when it is doing badly in something, you have to extend it as much as possible. I spoke with senators of Apruebo Dignidad that we voted for it later and not give a can, because there were the votes to approve it, however, they delayed it as much as they could, “he concluded.
Alfredo Moreno: “The longer we wait, the more benefits we lose”
Alfredo Moreno (independent), Minister of Foreign Affairs under the first government of President Sebastián Piñera, said that the treaty “has many benefits for Chile” and therefore “the longer we wait, the more benefits we lose and the time elapsed without being in this treaty – the third largest in the world – is expensive.”
The also former head of Social Development criticized that the content of the side letters is not of a public nature and called on the Government to clarify what they are about, beyond the issue of the settlement of disputes between investors and the State. While acknowledging that Chile has had a fairly positive experience in international commercial courts and has only lost in one case “not precisely against a large corporation,” he said that it is a discussion that can be given a posteriori.
“I think that the shorter the waiting period, the better for the country,” Moreno said, stressing that Chile already has trade agreements with almost all the countries of the treaty and therefore the practical effect of the side letters would be “null.”
“Congress has already said what it thinks for the most part and this has been ratified by many previous administrations,” said the former minister, reviewing that “there are many years of negotiations to be able to harmonize the opinions of many countries and therefore it would be a pity to lose it or delay its benefits.”
In the opinion of the former foreign minister, delaying it for a long time “would be incomprehensible, since throughout history the country has said – both in Parliament and in previous administrations – that it is what seems convenient to it.”
“If the objection is the dispute settlement mechanism. And the issue is whether you want a permanent court versus arbitration. That is something that can always be discussed and can be modified in the future and the changes that the countries accept can be made,” Alfredo Moreno refuted.
And, reiterating that today those bilateral letters “would not have a practical effect, if the content is what they are said to have,” he insisted that it would be good if they were made public in their entirety.
Roberto Ampuero: “Side letters are an own goal of the President”
Who also referred to the issue was the former foreign minister of the government of Sebastián Piñera, Roberto Ampuero, pointing to the fracture in the ruling party and affirming that the estratThe egia of the bilateral cards proposed by La Moneda is “a half-court own goal by President Gabriel Boric”.
“If it passes TPP11, it loses to its radical base; if he rejects, he loses to the country; if he continues to delay to look good with everyone, he loses to his radical base, the country and the partners of the TPP11,” said the former head of Minrel and militant of Evópoli, through Twitter.
Government spokeswoman: “Now it is up to the Senate to respect the President’s decision”
The Minister of the General Secretariat of Government (Segegob), Camila Vallejo, responded to criticism of the Executive’s strategy, assuring that just as the Government respected and has respected the decision of the Senate, “now it is up to the Senate to respect the decision of the President.”
“This is how democracies operate, this is how the division of powers operates from the State, each with its powers and tools and constitutional attributions,” the spokeswoman said at a press point from La Moneda.
On the time that could take the management of these “credentials”, Minister Vallejo acknowledged that “that depends a lot, because each country has its time, its own conversations”.
“But in our country we have had cases of more than two years where they are expected. We hope it doesn’t have to be so much,” he said.
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