Trade

Demonstrators Shut Down USTR: “TPP = Betrayal”

November 21, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Health Care, TPP, Trade, Worker Rights and Jobs

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. Washington, DC - On Monday, Nov. 16, as part of the Flush the TPP days of action, hundreds of people marched to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on 17th Street NW to protest and shut it down. The demonstration was planned to occur during protests in Manila, Philippines over the Asian Pacific Economic Coordination (APEC) meetings. The leaders and trade ministers from countries participating in the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) were present in Manila. The theme of the march and action in Washington was that the TPP betrays all that the people hold dear. Large images displayed family farmers, patients, youth installing solar panels and workers.

Mass Mobilization To Stop The TPP Announced, As Text Is Released

November 5, 2015 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Environment, Labor Rights, TPP, Trade

A mass mobilization in Washington, DC from November 14th to 18th has been announced to begin the next stage of the campaign to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP was made public 10 days from the actions. The protest, co-sponsored by 59 organizations, is being spearheaded by Popular Resistance and Flush The TPP and includes environmental, human rights, labor, climate change and good government groups. They have been organizing this mobilization for months knowing that the TPP would be made public around this time. On November 16th through 18th the groups will begin their protests on Monday morning at the US Trade Representative building on 17th Street with the message that the TPP betrays the people, planet and democracy. This will be followed that evening by a protest that begins at the US Chamber of Commerce and White House then marches along K Street and ends at the Reagan International Trade Center. The next day the groups will have an international focus protesting at multiple sites along Embassy Row to stand in solidarity with people around the world who are fighting to stop the TPP. On the final day the groups will focus on Congress.

Breaking: TPP Published, Next Steps, Call To Action

November 5, 2015 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Educate! Trade

The text of the TPP is out. Here is a link to the full text. Sign and share our petition to congressional leadership opposing the TPP. We have been organizing major actions in Washington, DC from December 14 to 18 as we knew a step like this was coming. If you are not already coming, join us in Washington, DC for what has become a very well timed convergence to oppose the TPP co-sponsored by nearly 60 organizations, please sign up today and make plans to come. This will be a great opportunity to show immediate opposition to this global corporate coup. In the next few days we will be getting analysis of the TPP from our allies and will share them to our Media Mobilizers and on our website Flush The TPP as well as on Popular Resistance. There is lots of dissension in Congress over the TPP. Multiple industries are not happy with what they have heard about the final deal and the largest movement ever to oppose a corporate trade deal is well positioned to escalate. The TPP can be stopped, but it requires people to stay educated, rapidly spread information about the shortcomings of the agreement as they become available and mobilze to stop Congress from ratifying the agreement. We can stop the TPP and defeat the trans national corporations that are behind this global corporate coup.

Is Investor-State Dispute Settlement Legal?

October 29, 2015 Laurens Ankersmit, www.blog.clientearth.org Educate! Europe, Trade

By Laurens Ankersmit for A ClientEarth Blog - Last month, the European Commission proposed reforms to the controversial investor-state dispute mechanism (ISDS), part of the EU-US trade deal known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). ISDS mechanisms, including the Commission’s ‘reformed’ ISDS proposal, let foreign investors sue the EU and Member State governments. These cases take place in front of specialised courts only open to foreign investors, where claims for compensation can run to billions of euros. ISDS has important implications for the daily lives of people in the EU. ISDS, for example, can be used by foreign investors to challenge the revocation of a fracking permit following protests and new environmental studies.

Tell Congress To Reject The TPP!

October 12, 2015 Staff, www.popularresistance.org Petitions and Online Actions Neoliberalism, TPP, Trade, TTIP

By Popular Resistance. On November 18, we and our allies will deliver thousands of petitions to Congress calling on them to reject the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) as part of the #FallRising mobilization in Washington, DC. At least, that's what we hope to do. TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) resisters in the European Union delivered more than 3 million petitions on October 7th. To reach our goal, we need you to click on the link below, sign and share the petition. Research and the history of trade agreements since NAFTA show that these types of trade agreements produce trade deficits, lost jobs, lower wages and environmental damage. The TPP’s scope is too broad. It usurps the legislative authority of Congress by writing rules concerning safety and labeling of foods, access to healthcare and medicine, regulation of banks, rights or workers, future energy sources and so much more. Essentially, its scope is everything. These are issues that should be considered by Congress not written in secret by trade negotiators.

Berlin: Hundreds Of Thousands Protest TTIP

October 11, 2015 Chris Johnston, www.theguardian.com Resist! European Union (EU), Neoliberalism, Obama, Trade, TTIP

By Chris Johnston for The Guardian. Berlin, Germany - Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Berlin on Saturday to oppose a planned free trade deal between the European Union and the United States that is claimed to be anti-democratic and to threaten food safety and environmental standards. The environmental groups, charities and opposition parties that organised the protest claimed 250,000 people took part, while a police spokesman said 100,000 attended. Smaller protests were also held in other cities, including Amsterdam, with a rally due to be held in London on Saturday night at which shadow chancellor John McDonnell is scheduled to speak.

Stop The TPP: ‘Not A Done Deal’

October 7, 2015 Staff, www.flushthetpp.org Resist! Corporatism, Finance and the Economy, TPP, Trade

By Staff for Flush the TPP. After five years of secret talks, the twelve countries involved in the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations announced they have reached an agreement. The deal was written by corrupt trade ministers and hundreds of corporate lobbyists without public (or even US Congressional) input. It is much more than a trade deal– only 5 of the 29 chapters even deal with trade. The rest of the deal is about privatizing government programs and services for corporate profits, removing government regulations, and setting protections for multinational corporations and investors rather than the health of the planet or necessities of people. The TPP has supposedly been agreed upon (the trade ministers' announcement was vagur), but it has not been signed yet and there are still many steps before it becomes law. It is now up to us to stop.

Communities Create TPP/TTIP-Free Zones

October 4, 2015 Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Democracy, TPP, Trade, TTIP

By Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. As negotiations of the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) inch toward completion, resistance to it and the other rigged corporate international treaties, the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trade-in-Services Agreement (TiSA), is escalating. In the European Union, activists are working to pass 10,000 such resolutions. During the fight to stop Congress from passing Fast Track legislation that will be used to rush these agreements through Congress, cities from Seattle, WA to Madison, WI to New York, NY passed resolutions against Fast Track. Labor played a big part in making these successful. Now, new resolutions are underway in more cities with the goal of 100.

Judge Shields TPP From Freedom Of Information Act

October 1, 2015 Adam Klasfeld, www.courthousenews.com Educate! Secrecy, TPP, Trade, Transparency

By Adam Klasfeld in Courthouse News. MANHATTAN (CN) – Drafts of the “vast, sweeping” trade agreement that the United States is secretly negotiating with 11 other world powers are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, a federal judge ruled. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a proposed trade agreement between 12 countries bordering the Pacific Rim setting international standards over labor, the environment, agriculture, medicine, labor, the Internet, human rights, intellectual property rights and many other issues. By Adam Klasfeld for Courthouse News Service. Though first announced to Congress in 2009, a confidentiality agreement that the participating countries reached protects their proposals from public disclosure until there is a final agreement. Most information about the deal has come to light through leaks to the press.

Stop The TPP: Tell USTR ‘No To This Bad Deal!’

September 29, 2015 Staff, www.popularresistance.org Petitions and Online Actions TISA, TPP, Trade, TTIP

By Staff of Popular Resistance. Trade ministers from around the world are meeting in Atlanta, GA today through Thursday in a desperate attempt to finalize the text of the TransPacific Partnership (TPP). Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is feeling pressured by the October 19 elections as the opposition parties step up their criticism of the TPP. People are rising up in protest to this deal that is bad for people and the planet! In Ottawa, Canada, farmers brought their tractors to the capital to demonstrate against the harmful impacts the TPP will have on local dairy farms. In Atlanta, Georgia, a coalition of groups are holding a series of actions this week.

The US & WTO Demolish India’s Solar Energy Ambitions

September 6, 2015 Charles Pierson, www.counterpunch.org Educate! India, Solar Energy, TPP, Trade, WTO

By Charles Pierson for Counterpunch - 400 million Indians - one quarter of India's population - have no electricity. But as far as the United States and the World Trade Organization (WTO) are concerned, they can keep sitting in the dark. Last month, the news was leaked that a WTO dispute panel had found that India's subsidies for solar power contravene WTO trade rules. India must now remove the subsidies or face trade sanctions. The United States filed the WTO complaint in 2013. The US alleged that India's subsidies for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (NSM) discriminate against foreign suppliers of solar components. The WTO decision confirms yet again that neoliberalism always favors trade over environmental protection. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) contains all the same features which enabled the WTO's decision against India's solar subsidies.

National Call To Action: Stop The TPP

August 27, 2015 Flush the TPP, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Corporatism, Democracy, TPP, Trade

By Flush the TPP. Now that Congress has given the President authority to Fast Track the TransPacific Partnership, US negotiators are working furiously to complete the deal. The word is that the group negotiations fell apart in Maui so negotiators are meeting in secret one-on-one to work out the final details. There is contention over sections regarding agriculture, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and intellectual property rights. Some countries are hesitant because the TPP is a bad deal for everyone except the transnational corporations and financiers who are set to line their pockets with more cash. Recently, tens of thousands of people took the streets in New Zealand with the message: "TPPA No Way, NZ Walk Away!" This is a crucial time to show greater resistance to his bad deal in the US.

TTIP Can Only Be Read In Brussels ‘Reading Room’

August 17, 2015 Zachary Davies Boren, www.independent.co.uk Educate! Europe, Finance and the Economy, Trade, usa

By Zachary Davies Boren in The Independent - The European Commission is making the secret Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade deal even more secret, introducing a new rule that means politicians can only view the text in a secure 'reading room' in Brussels. An investigation by German news site Correct!v has revealed that the Commission is cracking down on TTIP security following a series of leaks, purportedly by EU member states who had accessed information on the deal electronically. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström has said that no more reports on TTIP negotiations will be sent to Member States because of "important vulnerabilities in the last rounds of negotiations". Officials were told of this change in policy on July 24th at a meeting in Brussels in which the Commission explained that the documents had "been submitted to databases of [member states'] national parliaments" meaning that "hundreds of people have actually uncontrolled access".

WikiLeaks Goes After Hyper-Secret Euro-American Trade Pact

August 12, 2015 Wikileaks, www.wikileaks.org Resist! Europe, Finance and the Economy, Trade, usa

By Wikileaks - Today, Tuesday 11th August, 9:15 BST, WikiLeaks has launched a campaign to crowd-source a €100,000 reward for Europe’s most wanted secret: the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Starting pledges have already been made by a number of high profile activists and luminaries from Europe and the United States, including former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, esteemed UK fashion designer and environmental campaigner Dame Vivenne Westwood, US journalist Glenn Greenwald, veteran Australian film-maker and investigative journalist John Pilger, Belarusian philosopher and theorist Evgeny Morozov, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange. [Update as of Tuesday 11th August 2.30pm BST: Now joined by filmmaker Terry Gilliam and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek.]

Corporate Rigged Trade Is A Racial Justice Issue

August 10, 2015 Isaiah J. Poole, www.otherwords.org Educate! Jobs, NAFTA, Racism, TPP, Trade

By Isaiah J. Poole for Other Words - What’s the connection to racial unrest? Simply put, it’s the lack of economic opportunity that results when bad trade deals lead to the disappearance of good-paying jobs. Hundreds of thousands of blue-collar jobs vanished after the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, was signed in 1994. And towns like Ferguson were hit especially hard. The St. Louis metropolitan area, home to 206,000 manufacturing jobs in 1990, only had about 113,000 left by the end of 2014, according to the Labor Department. During that same period, the region saw no net growth in trade, transportation, or utility-sector jobs. “We used to have a ton of light manufacturing, light industrial jobs,” said John L. Davidson, a St. Louis banking lawyer who writes a blog about economic issues. But now, “there are no jobs out there.” The trade deal left the St. Louis region with a mortally wounded tax base intertwined with deep-seated racial bias.

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