Free Trade

I Read Obama’s Secret Trade Deal. Warren Is Right To Be Concerned

May 20, 2015 Michael Wessel, www.politico.com Educate! Free Trade, TPP, Warren, Worker Rights and Jobs

I can tell you that Elizabeth Warren is right about her criticism of the trade deal. We should be very concerned about what's hidden in this trade deal—and particularly how the Obama administration is keeping information secret even from those of us who are supposed to provide advice. So-called “cleared advisors” like me are prohibited from sharing publicly the criticisms we’ve lodged about specific proposals and approaches. The government has created a perfect Catch 22: The law prohibits us from talking about the specifics of what we’ve seen, allowing the president to criticize us for not being specific. Instead of simply admitting that he disagrees with me—and with many other cleared advisors—about the merits of the TPP, the president instead pretends that our specific, pointed criticisms don’t exist.

Why Is President Obama Having So Much Trouble Selling TPP?

May 15, 2015 Stan Sorscher, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Free Trade, Human Rights, Obama, TPP

Barack Obama is cool and personable -- no-drama Obama. Then suddenly, he scolds critics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, his NAFTA-style trade deal. He accuses them of being "wrong," unable to look at the facts, fighting the last war, confusing this new improved trade deal with NAFTA, if they don't want TPP they must want nothing at all ... and they definitely are not invited to his next birthday party. Of course, the critics are right, they are looking straight at the facts, the critics know exactly what a good trade policy would look like, and it's nothing like NAFTA or TPP. ..... and deep down, everyone wants to be invited to his next birthday party. So what's wrong with TPP?

Hillary Ducks TPP Protesters In Beverly Hills

May 15, 2015 Lauren Steiner, www.laprogressive.com Resist! Free Trade, Politics, TPP

On Thursday, around 50 people attended a press conference and rally to tell Hillary Clinton to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement with 12 countries consisting of 40% of the world’s trade. The TPP fast track bill has been scheduled for a vote in the Senate this coming Tuesday. The protesters urged Clinton to come out against the TPP, the trade agreement she touted while she was Secretary of State, calling it “the gold standard in trade agreements.” However, after waiting an hour past the start time for Hillary to show up, the protesters realized that she had taken a five-mile detour to another entrance to the gated community where her fundraiser was held just to avoid being dogged by protesters.

You Can’t Read The TPP, But These Huge Corporations Can

May 14, 2015 Alleen Brown, www.firstlook.org Educate! Capitalism, Congress, Free Trade, Law, TPP

The Senate today is holding a key procedural vote that would allow the Trans-Pacific Partnership to be “fast-tracked.” So who can read the text of the TPP? Not you, it’s classified. Even members of Congress can only look at it one section at a time in the Capitol’s basement, without most of their staff or the ability to keep notes. But there’s an exception: if you’re part of one of 28 U.S. government-appointed trade advisory committees providing advice to the U.S. negotiators. The committees with the most access to what’s going on in the negotiations are 16 “Industry Trade Advisory Committees,” whose members include AT&T, General Electric, Apple, Dow Chemical, Nike, Walmart and the American Petroleum Institute.

Obama Protested As He Pushes TPP At Nike

May 11, 2015 Luke Hammill, www.oregonlive.com Resist! Free Trade, Obama, Portland, Protest, TPP

Chants of "TPP – just don't do it" and "Corporate greed has got to go" rang through the air outside Nike headquarters in Beaverton on Friday morning, as President Obama prepared to push the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership inside. More than 50 protesters from groups such as the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign and unions such as Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757lined Murray Boulevard with signs and loudspeakers, urging Congress not to give Obama "fast-track" authority to submit the trade pact to lawmakers for an up-or-down vote, with no amendments allowed. The TPP has divided Oregon's Democratic congressional delegation. Sen. Ron Wyden and Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici and Kurt Schrader support the deal. But Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Peter Defazio oppose it.

Trans-Pacific Partnership Suggests Obama Has No Sense Of Irony

May 9, 2015 Evan Greer, www.theguardian.com Educate! Free Trade, Internet, Obama, TPP

Last week, the president, who claims he’s running the most transparent administration in history, went on the record saying there’s nothing secretin the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), as he asked Congress for special authority to “fast track” the agreement. Today, President Obama will give another speech defending the TPP from critics who say the deal is a corporate power grab. The TPP is a massive, legally binding, agreement involving 12 countries that has been negotiated entirely behind closed doors by government officials and industry lobbyists. The text of the TPP agreement is classified.

The TPP Threatens A Free And Open Internet

May 8, 2015 Sean Nevins, www.mintpressnews.com Educate! Congress, Free Trade, Freedom of Expression, Internet, TPP

Legislation to “fast track” the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has moved through both committees in the House and the Senate. This legislation, which would enable President Barack Obama to negotiate the terms of the international agreement without congressional input, is now on the floor of the House. While the TPP has come under increasing scrutiny for its potential to erode the sovereignty of countries, an often overlooked aspect of the treaty is its threat to a free and open Internet. “The Trans-Pacific Partnership is pushing the worst parts of U.S. copyright policy on the rest of the world without expanding protections for fair use,” said Evan Greer, campaign manager with Fight for the Future, an organization dedicated to protecting Internet freedoms.

Obama Misleads His Base On Fast Track For The TPP

May 6, 2015 Jon Schwarz, www.firstlook.org Educate! Free Trade, Media, Obama, TPP

So you can imagine how members of Organizing for Action, or OFA, felt when they got email on Friday telling them about a super new “Trade Promotion Authority” bill. Passage of the Trade Promotion Authority, better known as “fast track,” would pave the way for the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty, or TPP, which includes a grab-bag of things the Democratic base absolutely loathes. It would raise the cost of prescription drugs, give Obama an environmental trade record “worse than George Bush’s,” create a special legal system for multinational corporations to killany domestic law that hurts profits, and much more.

Corporate ‘Exorcism’ Held Outside London Law Firm

May 2, 2015 RT, www.rt.com Resist! England, Free Trade, Law, TTIP

A group of radical performance activists who hail from New York staged an “exorcism” of corporate power outside an international law firm in London to raise awareness about the dangers of an EU-US trade deal being brokered behind closed doors. The group, Reverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir, conduct creative and political performances across the globe to preserve local communities, life and the imagination. On their website, they describe themselves as “wild anti-consumerist gospel shouters and Earth loving urban activists.” In a symbolic act of political protest on Thursday, the performance artists targeted the London office of global law firm King & Spalding over its role in Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) litigation.

Act Out! Episode 9 – #FreddieGray, TPP, Justice League & Paul Revere

May 1, 2015 Occupy, www.Occupy.org Educate! fast track, Free Trade, police brutality, TPP

Spring is rising and so are the people. We cover the latest from the front lines, starting with the fight against TPP and Fast Track featuring Bernie Sanders and a giant horse. Marchers from NYC arrive in DC calling for racial justice, and a push to end police violence and stop the militarization of our cops - the same week that Freddie Gray dies from injuries sustained during a police encounter. Striking at the root of systemic evil, Paul Revere takes his horse down to a GOP convention to decry corruption and we give you the upcoming events to watch out for and where to look. Finally, even a drunk guy can affect change. Small acts people, small acts. @ActOutOnOccupy

Indicting The TPP: Even One Count Is Enough To Kill It

April 30, 2015 Joe Firestone, www.neweconomicperspectives.org Educate! Democracy, Free Trade, TPP

The governing functions of the TPP regime would not be exercised with the consent of the governed. The combination of the vague definition of “investment,” the ISDS criminogenic tribunals, and the elevation of the principle of “expectation of profits” above the principles of “public purpose,” “consent of the governed,” and “separation of powers,” is tantamount to the overthrow of democracy, preserving its form in national level elections, but emptying its elections of meaningful content in mandating change and conferring legitimacy on national authorities. And, further, the ISDS tribunals if in operation, would not exercise just powers, but only illegitimate power derived from the TPP agreement itself, negotiated in secret, passed without benefit of open debate based on the secret text of the TPP, and intended to remain secret for years after the TPP is signed.

NYC Council Unanimously Opposes Fast Track For TPP

April 29, 2015 Marc Bussanich, www.citylimits.org Resist! Free Trade, Local Government, New York City (NYC), TPP

Councilmember Helen Rosenthal warned in a video interview on Monday that if President Barack Obama signs the Trans-Pacific Partnership it could very well jeopardize recent city laws that protect working people and the environment. Rosenthal led a rally on City Hall’s steps to protest the mammoth trade agreement being pursued by the United States and 11 other countries. She then held a hearing on a resolution she’s introduced to make New York City a "TPP-Free Zone." She acknowledged it’s just a symbolic gesture, but important nonetheless to introduce because the TPP could potentially lead to job losses and the rollback of key legislation.

2,009 Orgs Call On Congress To Oppose Fast Track Authority For TPP

April 28, 2015 CTC, www.citizenstrade.org Resist! Capitalism, Free Trade, TPP

An unprecedentedly united movement of labor, environmental, family farm, consumer, faith, Internet freedom and other organizations escalated their campaign to defeat Fast Track trade authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) today with a joint 2,009-group letter urging Congress to oppose it. As the TPP text leaks revealed that the pact replicates and expands on the most damaging provisions of past U.S. trade pacts, thousands of organizations nationwide have educated their members about the TPP’s threats to American jobs and wages, food safety, affordable medicines, the environment, financial stability and more.

NY City Council Considers Fast Track For The TPP

April 28, 2015 Jilian Jorgensen, www.observer.com Resist! Free Trade, New York City (NYC), TPP

The New York City Council may not get an actual vote on the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership—but today members and other activists rallied for the passage of a resolution urging Congress to shoot down what they deemed a job-killing deal that would wreck the environment. “Let’s be honest: TPP is bad for people. TPP is bad for the environment. TPP Is bad for democracy. Let’s be honest, it’s kind of the most dastardly and evil thing you can imagine,” Josh Fox, the filmmaker behind the anti-fracking documentary Gasland, said at a rally on the City Hall steps this afternoon.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership & The Death Of The Republic

April 27, 2015 Ellen Brown, www.opednews.com Educate! Democracy, Free Trade, TPP

A republican form of government is one in which power resides in elected officials representing the citizens, and government leaders exercise power according to the rule of law. In The Federalist Papers, James Madison defined a republic as "a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people . . . ." On April 22, 2015, the Senate Finance Committee approved a bill to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a massive trade agreement that would override our republican form of government and hand judicial and legislative authority to a foreign three-person panel of corporate lawyers. The secretive TPP is an agreement with Mexico, Canada, Japan, Singapore and seven other countries that affects 40% of global markets.

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