After six years of top secret negotiations, the Obama Administration released the text of the massive new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal Nov. 5. The initial reaction: It’s worse than we thought.
If approved by Congress, the TPP trade deal among 12 nations is set to become the world’s largest trade agreement, covering 40 percent of the world’s economy.
To read the TPP, click here for the full text of the trade deal posted on the US Trade Rep website. Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch produced a helpful bullet point analysis (PDF) of key TPP provisions.
A number of outlets are reporting that an up or down vote to approve the TPP in Congress is likely in the spring of 2016. President Obama notified Congress of his intent to sign the TPP on Nov. 5, triggering the 90-day period for Congress to review the trade deal under “fast track” rules. This means the earliest date the President can sign the deal is Feb. 3, 2016. Under fast track rules, Congress is prohibited from making any changes or amendments to the trade deal and debate is limited.
A number of organizations and WORC allies have already weighed in with their responses to the trade deal. Read a summary of responses to the TPP on the Citizen’s Trade Campaign blog. Here is a sampling:
“This agreement has been peddled to farmers and ranchers as a potential goldmine for farm exports. But as with other trade deals, these benefits are likely to be overshadowed by increased competition from abroad, paired with an uneven playing field that will not only reduce revenues for farmers and ranchers but will also speed the loss of U.S. jobs.”
— National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson
“The TPP will increase the volume of imported and potentially risky foods coming into the United States, but tie the hands of the border inspectors who are the last line of defense between the shipper and the supermarket. The TPP gives companies new powers to second guess inspectors and push uninspected food onto the market.”
— Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter
“It’s no surprise that the deal is rife with polluter giveaways that would undermine decades of environmental progress, threaten our climate, and fail to adequately protect wildlife because big polluters helped write the deal…”
— Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune
“The TPP will continue to drive the U.S. cattle and sheep industry’s untenable trade deficits to new heights.…. The TPP will expand the multinational meatpackers’ practice of cherry-picking low-cost cattle and sheep production from around the world, allowing them to strategically ship those animals and meat products into the United States duty free to create even more market volatility and to drive domestic prices even lower.”
— R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America CEO Bill Bullard
“It is clear that the threats of this expansive new agreement outweigh its benefits — for good jobs, for democracy, for affordable medicines, for consumer safety, and for the environment. The hardworking families of the AFL-CIO will join with our allies to defeat the TPP.”
— AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka
WORC and the member groups are analyzing the TPP to see how the trade deal lines up with WORC’s Trade Bill of Rights (PDF), which outlines basic fair trade principles, including
- The right of countries to preserve family farms and promote global food security.
- Strong labor, environmental and public health standards.
- Fair and democratic negotiations processes that allow for public input by the very people affected by the agreements.