The White House announced on Monday that Pacific trade ministers have reached an agreement regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes 12 countries along the Pacific Rim. The disastrous trade deal depends on Congressional approval, but opposition on Capitol Hill is widespread.
The deal includes the United States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Authors of the deal say it will cut trade barriers, set labor standards, and protect multinational corporations, as if they need more protections.
The TPP is a more dangerous version of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a 1994 trade deal signed by President Bill Clinton. NAFTA is the reason why millions of American jobs have been shipped overseas since 1994, exasperating American unemployment.
The TPP has been negotiated behind closed doors for six years and would protect Wall Street and large corporations, give multinational businesses more power than some international governments, and its copyright protections could breath new life into the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). More, far worse, things are also included in the deal.
Congress is only allowed a straight up-or-down vote on the deal and cannot propose amendments.
Watch Ed Schultz talk about why TPP is so bad for America’s middle class
Watch David Pakman address the significance of TPP
For more on this story, visit CBS News “Landmark Trans-Pacific Partnership deal reached”
Also visit Ring of Fire’s comprehensive overview of the TPP, “Is Obama A Fraud?? TPP”
