Techdirt first mentioned the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) last year, when "The Really Good Friends of Services" -- the self-chosen name for about 20 members of the World Trade Organization -- could no longer keep their plans locked behind closed doors, and word started to spread. Essentially, TISA completes the unholy trinity of global trade agreements that also includes TPP and TAFTA/TTIP. Between the three of them, they sew up just about every aspect of trade in both goods and services -- the latter being TISA's particular focus. They share a common desire to liberalize trade as much as possible, and to prevent national governments from imposing constraints on corporate activity around the world.
One particularly blatant reflection of this desire is the inclusion of something called the "ratchet clause." As with "The Really Good Friends of Services," that's an official name, not something chosen by the opponents of TISA (although they could hardly have come up with anything more revealing.) Here's how the European Commission's TISA page explains it:
A ratchet clause in a trade agreement means a country cannot reintroduce a particular trade barrier that it had previously and unilaterally removed in an area where it had made a commitment.
This has been excerpted from the 10 September 2015 edition of Techdirt and is available in its entirety at:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150908/09370832194/uruguay-withdraws-tisa-strikes-symbolic-blow-against-trade-deal-ratchet.shtml