As part of the U.S. effort to drum up support for the TPP, President Barack Obama enlisted the support of eBay, sending an email to 600,000 merchants that claimed that the agreement would help e-commerce and small merchants. That message was repeated by Andrea Stairs, the managing director of eBay Canada, who wrote an op-ed in the Financial Post that similarly pointed to the e-commerce rules, de minimis customs rules, and the benefits for small and medium sized business. The Trouble with the TPP is that a closer look at the text reveals that the benefits from the e-commerce provisions, de minimis rules, and the much-touted SME chapter are practically non-existent.

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