Consumers, Unions Not Convinced By USTR's Assurances On Trade Deal

U.S. Trade Representative employees tried to reassure consumer advocates and unions during a meeting this summer that a draft Trans-Pacific Partnership deal would not lead to companies blocking government efforts to control the cost of specialty drugs in Medicaid, Medicare Part B and other government programs. However, the consumer groups are still worried that the so-called investor-state dispute settlement provisions of the trade deal, which is still being negotiated, would enable pharmaceutical companies to sue state governments and the federal...