Though called a 'trade' agreement, only 6 of TPP's 30 chapters deal with traditional trade issues. Its final version, 7 years in the making, is even worse than expected-Public Citizen

Massive trade deals like TPP place "constant downward pressure on American wages"...per Obama administration adviser Wessel in 10/9/2015 UK Guardian article

8/16/16, "Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): More Job Offshoring, Lower Wages, Unsafe Food Imports," Public Citizen, citizen.org/tpp

"Have you heard? The TPP is a massive, controversial, pro-corporate "free trade" agreement among the United States and 11 other countries – Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. Although it is called a “trade” agreement, the TPP is not mainly about trade. Of TPP's 30 chapters, only six deal with traditional trade issues. 

Secret TPP Text Unveiled: It's Worse than We Thought 

In early November 2015, after seven years of close-door negotiations, with the public, press and policymakers locked out, the final TPP text was released. In chapter after chapter, the final text is worse than expected, with the demands of the 500 official U.S. trade advisers representing corporate interests satisfied to the detriment of the public interest.The text reveals that the pact replicates many of the most controversial terms of past pacts that promote job offshoring and push down U.S. wages.

If passed, the TPP would:

make it easier for big corporations to ship our jobs overseas, pushing down our wages and increasing income inequality, flood our country with unsafe imported food, jack up the cost of medicines by giving big pharmaceutical corporations new monopoly rights to keep lower cost generic drugs off the market,

empower corporations to attack our environmental and health safeguards, ban Buy American policies needed to create green jobs, roll back Wall Street reforms, sneak in SOPA-like threats to Internet freedom, and undermine human rights.

  
 
The TPP can take effect only if the U.S. Congress approves it, and its fate in Congress is uncertain at best. Fast Track trade authority only passed through Congress by the narrowest of margins after a series of legislative maneuvers, with reluctant support from some key swing members contingent upon certain provisions being in the final TPP. The released text shows these concerns have been largely ignored.

And an unprecedented array of organizations have joined together in a powerful and diverse coalition to stop the TPP. Groups united on this extend well beyond labor unions and include consumer, Internet freedom, senior, health, food safety, environmental, human rights, faith, LGBTQ, student and civil rights organizations. Opposition to the TPP is growing at home and in many of the other countries involved. 

Se puede encontrar recursos en español aquí. 

Featured Resources:

• Updated Factsheet: Stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
• Brochure: No TPP Corporate Attack
• USITC TPP Study Analysis: Press Release: TPP Study Projects Worsening Trade Balances for 36 of 55 U.S. Economic Sectors, Overall U.S. Trade Deficit Increase
• TPP Corporate Empowerment Map: See which foreign corporations near you could use NAFTA-style investor rights to challenge laws and regulations under the TPP
• Case Studies: Investor-State Attacks on Public Interest Policies
• Map: What Would the TPP Mean For Your State?
• Memo: Investors Use Runaway "Fair and Equitable Treatment" Standard in 75% of "Successful" Cases Against Governments
• Find out more on the blog: Read the latest on the TPP on Eyes on Trade

More Job Offshoring, More Income Inequality

The TPP would incentivize offshoring American jobs to low-wage countries, and would also exacerbate U.S. income inequality.

Undermining Food Safety The TPP would require us to import meat and poultry that does not meet U.S. safety standards. It would impose limits on food labeling.

Threats to Public Health U.S. negotiators are pushing the agenda of Big Pharma – expanding firms' monopoly protections for drugs. The TPP would restrict access to life-saving medicines for millions in developing nations, while undermining efforts to contain U.S. medicine costs.

Financial Deregulation: Banksters' Delight The TPP would undermine the re-regulation of Wall Street. It would prohibit bans on risky financial products and services and undermine "too big to fail" regulations.

Son of SOPA: Curtailing Internet Freedom Thought SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) was bad? The TPP would require internet service providers to "police" user-activity and treat individual violators as large-scale for-profit violators. Plus, the TPP would stifle innovation.

Bye Buy American and Jobs The TPP would impose limits on how our elected officials can use tax dollars – banning Buy American or Buy Local preferences and offshoring our tax dollars to create jobs abroad.

More Power to Corporations to Attack Nations Foreign corporations would be empowered to attack our health, environmental and other laws before foreign tribunals on the mere basis that their expectations were frustrated, and to demand taxpayer compensation for expected future profits.

Turning a Blind Eye to Human Rights Violations The TPP would turn a blind eye to human trafficking, child labor and anti-LGBT abuses by giving human rights offenders like Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei privileged access to the U.S. market."

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5/6/16, "It's hard to know what drives politicians to sell out their people and their country." Der Spiegel on TTIP, another pending massive free trade deal 

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Comment: Both US political parties are really just business lobbies. The Democrat party at least has some characteristics of a political party. The Republican party doesn't even try.





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