‘Stop the Fast Track of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement’
Margaret Flowers shared her views Wedesday in front of Penn Station in Baltimore on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. She labeled it, “NAFTA on steroids.”
Flowers underscored that the treaty has been “negotiated in secret,” and its terms, “classified.”
She said that President Barack Obama has asked to “Fast Track” the treaty. This would allow him to sign it into law before the U.S. Congress is given an “up or down vote on it.” In other words, the measure would not go through the usual legislative democratic process, with hearings, transparency, the calling of witnesses, etc.
Dave Johnson, writing in the “Campaign for America’s Future” pointed out that “Human Rights, consumer, labor, environment groups are not at the table. But more than 600 corporate representatives are participating.”
Try this for an example of what may be in our future. A U.S. law required food companies to disclose whether tuna is “dolphin-safe” or not. A Mexican company, however, under NAFTA, complained that it “restricted trade.” It won the case!
Whatever is in the final version of the “Trans-Pacific Partnership,” will become the Law of our Land. It will supersede all of our laws and regulations dealing with food, public health and safety, workers rights, the internet, the environment, etc. The AFL-CIO has passed a Resolution opposing the TPP.
Finally, Dr. Flowers said that Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), who was privy to some of the items in the TPP called it a “threat to our national sovereignty.” To learn more about this important issue and what you can do about it, check out the website.
Bill Hughes is an attorney, author, actor and photographer. His latest book is “Byline Baltimore.” It can be found at: https://www.amazon.com/William-Hughes/e/B00N7MGPXO/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
Everything I said is factual.
The negotiations started under Bush and were halted. Obama picked them up in 2009 after promising to renegotiate NAFTA in a more fair manner.
The current rush is that the final round of formal negotiations ended and the President formally asked Congress to grant him Fast Track (now called Trade Promotion Authority) so that he can sign the agreement and Congress only votes up or down without hearings and amendments. He had hoped to have the TPP signed by the APEC meetings in early October but that doesn’t seem possible.
Fast Track was first granted to Nixon in the mid-1970s and expired in 2007. Fast Track is used to pass legislation that the public does not or would not support. It was used to pass NAFTA and the WTO.
For more information, readers can go to CitizensTrade dot org and Public Citizens’ “Eyes on Trade” blog. There are also articles at FlushtheTPP dot org.
We seek to stop Congress from granting Fast Track so that trade can be negotiated in a transparent, democratic and fair manner. If the TPP passes, it will require that our laws, even down to the local level, be changed to comply with the TPP.
The most cursory background research would have revealed that every single claim made by his woman is false. This negotiation has been going on since 2009; hardly “rushed”. Secondly, fast track authority has been used since the 1970s FOR THE EXPLICIT PURPOSE of giving Congress an “up or down” vote on trade agreements. I understand the need for fresh content and pixels, but for pity’s sake exercise some quality control and subject people’s outrageous political claims to some scrutiny.