An Auckland University law professor is warning the Trans-Pacific Partnership being negotiated this week in Auckland is a threat to Maori rights under the Treaty of Waitangi.
The United States, Australia and three other countries are trying to join New Zealand, Brunei, Chile and Singapore in the multi-lateral trade agreement.
Jane Kelsey says the sorts of conditions that US business interests want included is a threat to New Zealand's sovereignty and the tino rangatiratanga of Maori.
"In this context we end up with an international treaty that's basically a bill of rights for foreign investors that would trump the Treaty of Waitangi and any other rights that Maori have been struggling for for 160 years," she told Waatea News.
