Tag Archives: Trans-Pacific Partnership

COOK: Trump and Sanders Vow to Kill ObamaTrade, But for the Wrong Reasons

Feb 8, 2016 Joshua Cook Leave a comment

While the mainstream media focused on “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli’s smirk last week, trade ministers signed the final agreement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), also known as ObamaTrade.

During a congressional hearing, hedge fund manager-turned-pharmaceutical company CEO Martin Shkreli was asked by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) if he “did anything wrong” by increasing a life saving drug by 5,000 percent. Shkreli’s behavior sparked a national debate on capitalism and whether “greed is good” in America.

Ironically, while congressmen Reps. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and Chaffetz criticized Shkreli’s business decision to increase the price for one drug, they both voted to give President Obama ‘fast-track’ authority to approve ObamaTrade, which will likely increase drug costs for all Americans.

Supportive ObamaTrade groups are now admitting that thousands of Americans could lose their jobs from this agreement. ObamaTrade would also allow Big Pharma to increase drug prices and limit access for consumers— a gift for crony capitalists like Shkreli.

This month, both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are speaking out against the controversial trade deal.

Trump recently told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he and Sanders have common ground on trade.

“The one thing we very much agree on is trade. We both agree that we are getting ripped off by China, by Japan, by Mexico, everyone we do business with,” said Trump.

“At a time when prescription drug prices are skyrocketing, the TPP would make a bad situation even worse by granting new monopoly rights to big pharmaceutical companies to deny access to lower cost generic drugs to millions of people,” Sanders said in a press conference on February 3.

Both presidential candidates oppose ObamaTrade, but for different reasons— the wrong reasons. They both advocate a protectionist trade policy.

“We need fair trade. Not free trade,” Donald Trump told Breitbart in September 2015. “We need fair trade. It’s got to be fair.”

I've got a message for corporate America: if you want us to buy your products, you better start producing them here in the United States.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 15, 2015

It’s important to note that ObamaTrade is not “free trade.” America does not have “free trade;” it’s managed trade.

Economist Dr. Tom DiLorenzo told Truth In Media’s Joshua Cook that the reason Americans fought the British was because of this type of crony capitalism (mercantilism). This is not free market enterprise; this is just giving favors to the politically connected at the expense of tax payers and the middle class, the working people, the American people.

While Trump and Sanders should be praised for speaking out against ObamaTrade, they both miss the opportunity to show people how to “make America great again” by implementing economic principles of real free trade.

Activism, Featured, Government Accountability, International

Trade Ministers Sign TPP Trade Agreement in New Zealand Amid Massive Protests

Feb 4, 2016 Derrick Broze Leave a comment

Auckland, New Zealand – Trade ministers from the twelve nations involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) met in New Zealand on Thursday to sign the final agreement.

The participating nations now have up to two years to ratify the agreement. The 12 nations include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. Before becoming law in the United States, both the House and the Senate will need to vote to approve the TPP.

In late June 2015, President Obama signed into law the so-called “fast-track” bill that set the stage for approval of the TPP. “Fast track” limits Congress’ ability to alter the provisions of the trade deal and only allows a vote of yes or no. The final terms of the deal were agreed upon in October, and the full text of the agreement was released in November.

The TPP has been the subject of much controversy for the last few years, largely due to the fact that the trade ministers have negotiated the deal in secret with overwhelming influence from multinational corporations.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation writes:

“These officials have not been accountable to the public. They have remained steadfast in excluding public participation and ignoring all calls for transparency over the more than five years of TPP negotiations. Because of this opaque process, trade negotiators were able to fill the agreement with Hollywood and Big Tech’s wish lists of regulatory policies without having to worry about how they would impact the Internet or people’s rights over their digital devices.”

The EFF says that it is “critical that people in the U.S. demand congressional accountability over this deal and urge their lawmakers to vote no when the TPP comes before them for approval.”

While the trade ministers signed the TPP, thousands of protesters gathered in the streets of Auckland to protest the trade deal. TVNZ reports that no arrests were made. Detective Superintendent Richard Chambers stated that his officers were abused, had their clothing and hats pulled, but displayed “outstanding professionalism.”

auckland tpp protest — Protesters in Auckland, NZ

In the U.S. on Thursday, there was a wave of “Flush the TPP” protests as critics of the deal took to the streets of Washington D.C., Los Angeles and other American cities.

In October 2015, journalist Ben Swann released a Reality Check on the TPP, stating that it was worse than previously believed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K0k361pQoQ

In 2015, both the Anglican and Catholic churches of New Zealand demanded the government be more transparent about the negotiations. Radio NZ reports that bishops from the churches are concerned about the lack of openness and that corporate interests are influencing the agreement while the people are being excluded. The churches also called on the New Zealand government to make the draft text of the agreement public.

In early February 2015, doctors and health professional representing seven countries released a letter warning that the TPP will lead to higher medical costs for all nations. The letter, published in The Lancet medical journal, states that, “Rising medicine costs would disproportionately affect already vulnerable populations.” The doctors called on the governments involved in the trade deal to publicly release the full text of the agreement. They also demanded an independent analysis of the impacts on health and human rights for each nation involved in the deal.

Also in February 2015, an analysis by The Washington Post revealed the US government’s numbers on expected job increases from TPP are not factually correct. The Fact Checker examined several quotes from government officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Both Kerry and Vilsack claimed the international trade agreement would create 650,000 new jobs. However, these numbers do not take into account income gains and changing wages. According to the government own sources imports and exports would increase by the same amount resulting in a net number of zero new jobs.

A more recent analysis concluded that the TPP will lead to the loss of 448,000 jobs in the United States.

A look at the finally revealed text of the TPP reveals the most egregious portions relate to the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) Mechanism, intellectual property, and food safety standards. ISDS will give corporations loopholes to escape accountability and empower international bodies, overriding national sovereignty of the signing nations. Under ISDS, foreign corporations would be allowed to appeal legal decisions to international tribunals, rather than face domestic courts. Critics fear this could lead to a loss of sovereignty and the enrichment of transnational corporations.

Recently, the Electronic Frontier Foundation also released a report on the dangers of the TPP. The EFF writes:

“Everything in the TPP that increases corporate rights and interests is binding, whereas every provision that is meant to protect the public interest is non-binding and is susceptible to get bulldozed by efforts to protect corporations.”

Delayed until 2017?

It was recently reported that the TPP might not be voted on until after the 2016 presidential elections, or possibly into the next presidential term.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he does not support the idea of voting on the TPP before the election. “It certainly shouldn’t come before the election. I don’t think so, and I have some serious problems with what I think it is,” he said. “But I think the president would be making a big mistake to try to have that voted on during the election. There’s significant pushback all over the place.”

“We will continue working with Congressional leaders to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership as soon as possible next year,” Brandi Hoffine, a White House spokeswoman, told the Post.

On Friday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters, “Our view is that it is possible for Congress to carefully consider the details of this agreement and to review all the benefits associated with this agreement … without kicking the vote all the way to the lame-duck period.”

Government Accountability, International

U.S. Ignores Malaysia’s Human Trafficking Record in Favor of TPP

Jul 24, 2015 Derrick Broze Leave a comment

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is one of the largest trade agreements in history involving the United States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The nations have been negotiating the deal since 2005, with global resistance growing since 2012. Now that President Obama has signed into law Trade Promotion Authority, or ‘“fast track”, the trade agreement is expected to be presented to Congress before the end of the year. Under Fast Track, Congress only has an “up” or “down” vote on the TPP and can not amend the agreement.

Following the passing of Fast Track it was reported that a provision was included that allowed the State Department to upgrade Malaysia’s status on human trafficking in order to comply with U.S. laws on trade. TechDirt reports:

“Earlier this week, we wrote about a troubling move by the US State Department to “upgrade” Malaysia from a “tier 3” country to a “tier 2” country regarding human trafficking. This move came despite a near total lack of evidence of any improvement by Malaysia. In fact, just two months ago 139 mass graves were discovered for migrant workers who had been trafficked and/or held for ransom. And the US ambassador to Malaysia had publicly criticized the country for failing to tackle its massive human trafficking problem.

So why would the State Department magically upgrade Malaysia? Well, because of a tiny provision in the fast track “Trade Promotion Authority” deal that Congress recently passed. It noted that fast track authority would not apply to trade deals involving countries that were categorized as “tier 3” by the State Department. In other words, this should have given the US tremendous leverage to push Malaysia to really tackle the problem. Instead, because it appears that the administration is so focused on getting the TPP officially finished and ratified, it got the State Department to just magically upgrade Malaysia, and effectively spit on the graves of those murdered migrant workers.”

Once the news began to spread, 19 Senators wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry demanding answers.

“Fighting human trafficking is one of the great moral challenges of our time. It is therefore with grave concern that we now hear Malaysia may be upgraded in this year’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report based on developments that occurred after the end of the review period. A premature upgrade of Malaysia would undermine the integrity of the TIP report process and compromise our international efforts to fight human trafficking.”

These allegations are only the latest criticisms of the TPP. The critics of the TPP come from a wide spectrum of activists, doctors and religious leaders. The most-cited issue with the trade deal is the granting of authority to international tribunals which will have the power to override court rulings within the individual nation states.

As the trade agreement nears completion both the Anglican and Catholic churches of New Zealand are demanding that the government be more transparent about the negotiations. Radio NZ reports that bishops from the churches are concerned with the lack of openness and that corporate interests are influencing the agreement while the people are being excluded. The churches also called on the New Zealand government to make the draft text of the agreement public.

In early February, doctors and health professional representing seven countries released a letter warning that the TPP will lead to higher medical costs for all nations. The letter, published in The Lancet medical journal, states that, “Rising medicine costs would disproportionately affect already vulnerable populations.” The doctors called on the governments involved in the trade deal to publicly release the full text of the agreement. They also demanded an independent analysis of the impacts on health and human rights for each nation involved in the deal.

Also in February, an analysis by The Washington Post revealed the US government’s numbers on expected job increases from TPP are not factually correct. The Fact Checker examined several quotes from government officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Both Kerry and Vilsack claimed the international trade agreement would create 650,000 new jobs. However, these numbers do not take into account income gains and changing wages. According to the government own sources imports and exports would increase by the same amount resulting in a net number of zero new jobs.

The U.S. government’s willingness to ignore human trafficking allegations goes to show that this nation has no interest in “human rights” and only uses the phrase when it is convenient to their goals of global hegemony. The people have only the illusion of representation. If we are to create a truly free world we must begin to look to our communities for answers and not the State.

International, Interviews

Exclusive: Curtis Ellis Says Trans-Pacific Partnership Is “Not Over!”

Jul 14, 2015 Joshua Cook Leave a comment

Truth In Media’s Joshua Cook recently interviewed Curtis Ellis of ObamaTrade.com. Cook and Ellis talked about the complicated and controversial trade agreement known as TPP.

Cook said, “I just did an interview couple of days ago with economist and historian, Dr. Tom DiLorenzo, and he talked about the reason we fought the British was because of this type of system of crony capitalism (mercantilism). This is not free market enterprise, this is just giving favors to the politically connected at the expense of tax payers and the middle class, the working people, the American people. This Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP), how dangerous is this to our Republic?”

“It’s extremely dangerous to our Republic in many ways,” answered Ellis. “Number one, the TPP sets up a separate court system for foreign corporations that can challenge our laws, and the very power of our government.”

“Let’s say that South Carolina decides that it wants to you use its taxpayer’s money to buy food for the prisons, the schools, that it is going to set aside certain amount of money is going to be used for local farmers and buy local produce, that could be overturned under this agreement, so these Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism (it is what it’s called), sets up a farm tribunals of unelected corporate lobbyists basically who act as judges that can overturn our laws,” Ellis continued. “Americans don’t even have access to these courts and there is no appeal when they issue their judgments.”

[quote_box_center]”The result of this type of Kangaroo court was recently when the World Trade Organization issued a ruling, saying that we’re not allowed to know where the meat that we buy in the grocery stores comes from, so we had to take the labels of the food packaging that this beef was raised in the USA. We are not allowed to know that, because those poor Mexican meat growers don’t feel they get a fair shot at selling their stuffs in the American market if people know that they came from Mexico. So you know we would rather buy American beef than Mexican beef. So that’s one real clear danger,” said Ellis.[/quote_box_center]

Cook asked Ellis: “One thing that’s striking to me was Ted Cruz’s switch, at the 11th hour. You know I know a lot of activists in the grassroots who really try to inform Senators like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and some of the presidential candidates, but Ted Cruz, right before the vote came out vocally against it. Can you shed any light on that why he changed his mind on the TPA?”

“We know that the grassroots conservative movement is on fire against fast track and against its Trans-Pacific partnership, it is properly understood by grassroots conservatives that these deals sell out American sovereignty, sell out the American nation and open the door to unlimited immigration in the so-called guest worker ”migrant worker category” allowing unlimited number of farm workers to come in and take jobs that will go to Americans,” Ellis answered.

[quote_box_center]”The people understand that these are bad deals and that it is not a good thing for this country. Unfortunately, Mr. Cruz found himself on the wrong side of the grassroots and I can only surmise that he saw it affecting his campaign, he saw that he wasn’t getting the support, the lift that he hoped for, these campaigns conduct polling all the time. They’re constantly polling public opinion and both formally and informally and I suspect that he saw that his position was poison to his campaign,” said Ellis.[/quote_box_center]

Cook asked Ellis to “tell us exactly how can we get involved, how can we stop this from going forward? How can people reach out to their Congressman and senators to really educate them?”

“What we have to do is, number one, you can go to Obamatrade.com and send a message to your Congressman and tell them that you expect them to vote against it, but most importantly, look for them, if they are holding a town hall meeting, you have to go there and you tell them, you know, what were you thinking about giving Obama this power, what were you thinking about voting for this trans-pacific partnership, don’t do it, we know that the calls that are going into these congressional offices are 100-1 opposing it, some of these fellas went ahead and voted for it anyway, so that’s a legitimate question to ask, why did you vote for this while all of your constituency were telling you to vote against it,” said Ellis.

Economy, Jason Stapleton Program, Opinion, Politics

Stapleton: Where Has Our Confidence Gone?

Video Jun 18, 2015 Jason Stapleton 2 Comments

Why have Americans lost confidence in Government?

Most Americans have lived under a few assumptions:

1. The laws are just and equally apportioned.
2. Those we elect work to preserve the laws and the constitution, protecting our liberties and insuring our protection.
3. The interpretation of the laws are predictable and if you abide by the laws you are safe.

What Americans are realizing is that none of these are true. Their elected representatives are not looking out for you- they follow their own self interest, which usually means bending to the will of the special interest lobby.

That’s why we see things like Trade Promotion Authority and the Trans Pacific Partnership. Neither of our parties is looking out for the good of the people. They just simply follow the will of either the corporate lobby or the union lobby.

Americans see a president who can’t go a week without a major scandal, whether that be the sale of guns to drug lords or arguing before the Supreme Court claiming one day that Obamacare is not a tax and the next day claiming that it is.

Secret government agencies with the support of both Congress and the President violates your constitutional protections by spying on you and collecting your data without your permission… and then lies to you about doing it.

The government seizes citizens property without evidence of or even charging them with a crime, and then extorts money from them by threatening to drag them through years of legal battles to get back what is rightfully theirs.

Americans no longer know how the laws will be interpreted. They feel as though their government treats them as criminals, steals from them and threatens them if they do anything but accept the injustice.
Subscribe to the Show on iTunes

Government Accountability, International, Politics, US

Rep. Ryan Pushes Fast-Track Authority To Ensure TPP Transparency

Jun 12, 2015 Annabelle Bamforth 5 Comments

During House Rules Committee testimony on Wednesday, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) appeared to acknowledge the secrecy surrounding the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) by mentioning that the specifics of TPP will be more transparent once the House supports the passage of the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA).

The TPA is “fast-track” authority to advance trade deals including TPP, the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP). If TPA passes Congress would not be able to introduce amendments to trade deals, and would only the authority to approve or reject trade deals from the President.

Supporters of TPP are confident that this partnership and other agreements would serve as a large boost for the economy, while critics worry that major trade deals may favor crony capitalism and compromise sovereignty.

During House Rules Committee discussion regarding the secrecy of trade agreements, Ryan said that the TPP will be “declassified and made public once it’s agreed to.”

Breitbart noted that members of Congress are allowed to read the text of TPP in a secret room within the Capitol, but have not been allowed to see the text of the TiSA and T-TIP.

If TPA is not passed, Ryan warned that “at the dawn of the 21st Century, be it China or Europe, other nations will go around the world writing the rule book for the global economy, instead of America and our allies. It would be a travesty if we allowed that to happen.”

To read more about TPA, the TPP, and other trade negotiations, click here.

Liberty Report

Ron Paul: TPA Would Give Obama Unconstitutional Authority For TPP

Video Jun 11, 2015 Dr. Ron Paul 2 Comments

The hotly debated Trade Promotion Authority could be approved by Congress today, granting unconstitutional authority to President Barack Obama, according to Ron Paul.

In his latest Liberty Report, the three-time presidential candidate and former congressman from Texas offered his perspective on the TPA. He described it as “the transfer of power from the Congress to the president to design some trade agreements, which, quite frankly, is unconstitutional because the responsibility falls on the Congress.”

“It’s a little bit more complex than this, and more so this time than before,” Paul said, noting that the TPA is something he has voted on numerous times while in Congress. “This trade promotion authority, also called fast track, involves more than one piece of legislation.” This time it looks like Congress will give Obama unconstitutional authority.

Daniel McAdams, co-host of the Liberty Report, explained that the TPA would facilitate the implementation of three pending trade deals, one of which is the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “The other two are secret,” McAdams said.

There is a shroud of secrecy around the TPP as well, Paul detailed. “This is unbelievable,” he said. “The lobbyists, the people who represent big business, the corporations, have been allowed to read those where the members of Congress are not allowed to read it.” Though he conceded that “fast track” is a good descriptive term about the expeditious manner of the TPA, the term does not accurately describe the legislation as also being a manner of keeping the facts behind closed doors.

Moreover, Congressman Paul Ryan was quoted supporting the secrecy of TPA and TPP, saying, “It’s classified. It will be made public once it’s agreed to.”

Did he just take a page out of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi’s book? Consider how the Republicans were up in arms when Pelosi said Congress needed to pass Obamacare before the public could read it. “This just goes to show how the elites are really of one mind and one party,” McAdams said.

Paul agreed. “The one thing that bugs me still as much as it did back then was the hypocrisy of it,” he said. “So here they want to classify it and keep it secret. ‘We’re not allowed to do it.’ ‘It’s best for the country.’ ‘It’s for freedom and free trade.’ At the same time, when the president had a little bit of diplomacy going on, the Congress came down pretty hard.” Though the Congress “might have been technically correct” in their demand for transparency in that situation, Paul said he does believe that the president should be able to have some private talks with other countries.

Point being, the Congress seems to lack principle when it comes to how transparency should be applied. “At one time they’re for all this transparency, and another time they want to cover up,” Paul said.

Watch the full episode above and check out more episodes of the Ron Paul Liberty Report here at Truth In Media. And check out the Liberty Report episode “Fast-Track: Free Trade or Protectionism?” here.

In case you missed Ben Swann’s Truth In Media episode on ISIS watch it below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6kdi1UXxhY

Business, Economy, Election, Government Accountability, Politics, US

Ted Cruz’s TPA Amendment Won’t Stop ObamaTrade’s Backdoor Amnesty

May 14, 2015 Joshua Cook 8 Comments

In an exclusive interview with TruthInMedia.com’s Joshua Cook, Curt Ellis, who heads a Washington think tank, said that he was pleased to see Sen. Rand Paul and other presidential candidates oppose the secret and controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (ObamaTrade).

The problem with the Trans-Pacific Partnership is that most in Congress doesn’t know what is in the agreement. According to Ellis, it includes an entire chapter on immigration. “It is a Trojan horse for Obama’s immigration agenda,” writes Ellis in his latest article at TheHill.com.

According to AmericanThinker.com, “Senator Ted Cruz plans to propose an amendment that would prevent Obama from using his Fast-Track power to change federal immigration law.”

But Ellis takes issue with Cruz’s strategy.

“The thing to remember about Ted Cruz’s amendment is that it’s meaningless,” said Ellis. “Ted Cruz’s amendment becomes trash.”

“That’s a well known Supreme Court doctrine that this Congress can’t tell a future Congress what to do. You can’t write a law to say that this law can never be changed.”

Ellis told Cook:

“‘Obamatrade’ is the name we’ve given to the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which is one of the so-called free trade agreements the Obama folks have been negotiating on their own, in secret, without consulting Congress for the past six years,” explained Curtis Ellis.

“We call it ‘Obamatrade,’ because like ‘Obamacare’ it’s a situation where Congress is going to have to pass it, to find out what’s in it. It’s so complicated. It’s so dense. And it’s so involved,” he explained.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement is indeed complicated. Obama is also asking Congress to fast track trade promotion authority, which fundamentally changes how the American government conducts business.

“Congress would not be able to amend as much as one word of what the president writes,” he said.

“What this fast track trade promotion authority does is it turns the Constitution on its head where you’ve got the President writing this massive agreement that affects our entire economy. And he writes it and all Congress can do is vote it up or down. They can’t amend it. They can’t do their due diligence and do the deliberation necessary.”

Therefore, the best thing for Cruz to do is join other presidential candidates like Sen. Rand Paul, Gov. Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Former Gov. Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump who all openly oppose Obama’s secret trade deal, which critics call NAFTA on steroids.

If the TPP is passed, its regulations would override U.S. law, stripping the U.S. of its sovereignty and open the way for “backdoor” amnesty.

Listen to the interview here:

For more information, please visit www.ObamaTrade.com. For more news related to the 2016 Presidential election, click here.

Politics

BREAKING: Senate votes to block TPP “ObamaTrade” bill

May 12, 2015 Joshua Cook 15 Comments

Senate Democrats on Tuesday filibustered a bill that would give President Obama fast-track authority on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, aka ObamaTrade. Senate Republicans, however, are scrambling to rescue the pact.

One of the biggest critics of the TPP is Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who says President Barack Obama should reveal the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. It is apparent that her influence prevailed today in stopping debate on the TPP.

Truth In Media has reported previously about issues with TPP and how it could affect Americans.

Unfortunately, Republicans are in the minority of those opposing the dangers of giving Obama “fast-track” authority (see here, and here).

“We call it ‘Obamatrade,’ because like ‘Obamacare’, it’s a situation where Congress is going to have to pass it, to find out what’s in it. It’s so complicated. It’s so dense. And it’s so involved,” he explained.

Listen to an exclusive interview Joshua Cook and Curt Ellis from www.obamatrade.com.

Business, Economy, Foreign Policy, International

Sessions: If TPP Is Good Deal, Let Congress See Details

May 4, 2015 TIMP Staff 2 Comments

By Peter Fricke

Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions says he’s concerned that Congress might blindly relinquish its authority over free-trade agreements, leaving the American people with little say on future deals.

Specifically, Sessions is critical of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation, also known as “fast-tracking,” which would enable the president to submit trade agreements to Congress for an up-or-down vote with no opportunity for amendments. (RELATED: TPP Fast-Tracking is Designed to Hide a Bad Deal From Americans)

“Congress has the responsibility to ensure that any international trade agreement entered into by the United States must serve the national interest, not merely the interests of those crafting the proposal in secret,” Sessions said Monday in a press release.

TPA would apply to all free-trade agreements, but its immediate purpose is to ease passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a draft agreement among 12 Pacific countries—including the U.S., Japan, and Australia—that calls for eliminating tariffs and other trade barriers, as well as cooperating to create legal and regulatory coherence that would make trade more efficient.

Critics of the deal, including Sessions and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, complain that President Obama has refused to make details of the agreement public, giving rise to concerns that the TPP would encourage outsourcing of American jobs to countries with lower labor standards.

“History suggests that trade deals set into motion under the 6-year life of TPA could exacerbate our trade imbalance, acting as an impediment to both GDP and wage growth,” Sessions asserts. In support of that claim, Sessions cites research by labor economist Clyde Prestowitz, who attributes 60 percent of the 5.7 million American manufacturing jobs lost over the last decade to import-driven trade imbalances.

At a minimum, Sessions claims, “TPA eliminates Congress’ ability to amend or debate trade implementing legislation and guarantees an up-or-down vote on a far-reaching international agreement before that agreement has received any public review.” (RELATED: Trade Bill Puts Boehner and Pelosi Between Barack and Their Parties)

Under TPA, he explains, the president would be able to classify or redact portions of the deals submitted to Congress, making it difficult for lawmakers to seek legislative redress in the event that they have concerns about the desirability — or even the legality — of a trade agreement.

Moreover, “if Congress does not affirmatively refuse to reauthorize TPA at the end of the defined authorization (2018), the authority is automatically renewed for an additional three years so long as the President requests the extension.”

Sessions also expresses unease about a summary of the TPP put out by the U.S. Trade Representative, which states that the deal is a “living agreement.” According to Sessions, this provision “means that participating nations could both add countries to the TPP without Congress’ approval (like China), and could also change any of the terms of the agreement.”

Without Congressional input, for example, the president could unilaterally insert language into the TPP “to facilitate the expanded movement of foreign workers into the U.S.—including visitor visas that are used as worker visas.”

Obama brushed off such concerns during an address to the progressive group Organizing for Action last week, saying the deal has “strong provisions for workers, strong provisions for the environment … so when people say that this trade deal is bad for working families, they don’t know what they’re talking about.” (RELATED: Obama Hammers Dems for Opposing Free Trade)

Sessions, however, insists that Congress should have the power to make that determination, rather than having to take the president’s word that the TPP is a good deal for the American people.

“If we want an international trade deal that advances the interests of our own people,” he concludes, “then perhaps we don’t need a ‘fast-track’ but a regular track: where the President sends us any proposal he deems worthy and we review it on its own merits.”

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Election, Opinion, US

Will Huckabee Be The Only Anti-ObamaTrade Presidential Candidate?

May 4, 2015 Joshua Cook 1 Comment

Mike Huckabee, former Republican governor of Arkansas, is jumping into a crowded race for President. Though Huckabee has been criticized for his fiscal liberalism and social conservatism, he should be given his credit for speaking openly against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a.k.a “ObamaTrade.”

“If it’s not fair trade,” Huckabee said, “it’s not free trade.”

Apparently Huckabee is the only Republican who understands the TPP and the dangers of giving President Obama fast track authority.

Curtis Ellis, who spoke with BenSwann.com’s Joshua Cook earlier this year and explained how dangerous the Trans-Pacific Partnership actually is.

While Speaker of the House John Boehner (R) is urging Hillary Clinton to support the TPP, Huckabee is the only vocal Republican to say what it really is: a globalist and corporatist takeover.

“We have a lot of globalists and frankly corporatists instead of having nationalists who put forward the best interests of the United States and working families,” Huckabee said.

Joshua Cook Interviews ObamaTrade.com’s Curtis Ellis On TPP Fast Track Aka Obama Trade. Listen here.

For more information on the TPP, please read Derrick Broze’s article here.

Featured, Foreign Policy, Interviews

Exclusive Interview: Obama Plans to Use Trans-Pacific Partnership as New Power Grab Disguised As Free Trade

Video Feb 26, 2015 Joshua Cook 20 Comments

We’re suffering through Obamacare, but, sadly, there is another one of President Obama’s plans that demands our attention: Obamatrade.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement is complicated, but that’s not all. Obama is also asking Congress to fast track trade promotion authority, which fundamentally changes how the American Government conducts business.

“Congress would not be able to amend as much as one word of what the president writes,” he said.

“This is not the way the Founders set this system up,” he added.

If Obama gets his way the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a done deal, and that’s a scary thing.

“This is not about free trade. This is about writing rules for the world’s economy, which means regulating commerce within our borders, as well as international trade,” he said. “It sets up hard and fast rules on a global scale that will impact all the food that is grown and consumed, all the energy that is produced and consumed.”

Visit, www.obamatrade.com and learn how to stop another Obama power grab.

https://soundcloud.com/joshua-cook-60/joshua-cook-interviews-curtis-ellis-on-tpp-fast-track-aka-obama-trade

Foreign Policy, Interviews, US

Exclusive Interview: Liberty Activists & the Left try to stop Trans-Pacific Partnership fast track

Dec 9, 2014 Joshua Cook 2 Comments

The Left and Tea Party members don’t agree on many things. But, National Public Radio reported that when it comes to trade and trade policies, liberals and Tea Party members are in agreement regarding the issue of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP.

President Barack Obama said that he’d push to complete trade deals with both Asian and European nations, calling the deals “good for American business.”

According to NPR, negotiators from Pacific Rim nations assembled in Washington, D.C. to advance. In our nation’s capital, the negotiators were met with protesters from liberal groups representing environmental causes, unions and consumer advocacy groups.

Conservatives are also raising concerns about TPP, or at least how the President is handling these negotiations. Nineteen Republican congressmen sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, saying they would not support having Congress give the President “fast-track” authority to complete the negotiations.

That authority allows the President to have his representatives settle a deal with other countries’ negotiations, which are then brought before Congress for a straight yes-or-no vote, with no addition of amendments.

Here is the text of that letter:

As we enter into the Lame Duck session of Congress, we believe it is imperative that any efforts to grant Trade Promotion Authority(TPA), or Fast Track, to President Obama are tabled until at least after the new Congress is sworn in.

The American people have spoken loud and clear: they want a new direction for our country. The habitual abuses of power by this President have eroded the faith of the American people, who no longer trust his judgment or leadership. This sentiment was reflected in the mid-term elections, when the President’s agenda was soundly repudiated.

Because there aren’t enough votes in the House to pass TPA as a stand-alone bill, we understand that there are discussions of including TPA in a larger legislative package — either Tax Extenders or a Continuing Resolution — to be considered during the Lame Duck session of Congress. We believe that this is a bad idea.

More than 60 Members of the House will not be returning for the 114th Congress. We do not believe it is right to pass legislation that grants significant additional power to the Administration with votes cast by elected officials who can no longer be held accountable by the electorate.

It is evident from the outcome of this month’s elections that any efforts to grant TPA to the President during a Lame Duck session would be harmful to the trust that the American people just put in us at the ballot box. For that reason, we respectfully request that any consideration of Fast Track legislation be delayed until January when the 114th Congress is sworn in.

Liberty activist Jesse Graston told BenSwann.com’s Joshua Cook just how dangerous the TPP actually is. “It (TPP) will be essentially NAFTA on steroids,” said Graston.

Listen to the exclusive interview below:

Trans-Pacific Partnership not good for Liberty

Jan 23, 2014 Joshua Cook 32 Comments

Noam Chomsky recently told the Huffington Post that the Trans Pacific Partnership (or TPP) is a “neoliberal assault” to further corporate domination. While most of the author/activist’s basic assertions and concerns are correct, his focus on the corporate world is one aspect of this dangerous treaty. It’s not simply corporate power which would increase and become more centralized; it is all power.

It is true that the pact would benefit corporations in certain ways. High-wage American workers and Union members would face more direct competition from low-wage Malaysian, Vietnamese and Mexican workers because the Partnership would create a free trade zone with no tariffs or barriers. Manual labor would be sent abroad even more readily than it currently is.

The TPP would also eliminate American regulations and safeguards in the name of free trade. Environmental, consumer safety and animal welfare regulations are just some of those which would be dismantled to ensure free trade. Even labeling law would no longer be allowed – unless passed by the Partnership as a whole – because labels could sway consumer choices by identifying country of origin, either directly or indirectly.

Chomsky also notes that the treaty would give corporations a direct way to object to and even override individual countries’ democratically passed laws. An international tribunal would have the power to overrule individual nations’ legal standards and impose economic penalties. Corporations would be able to directly address the international tribunal in order to oppose individual countries’ regulations.

It is true that this benefits corporations, and that unregulated corporations with corrupt ties to the government are extremely problematic for any democratic society.

Chomsky’s focus on a single aspect of the problem, however. The fact that an international organization could override American (or Australian, or Canadian, or New Zealander) laws would mean that anyone who wanted to override the democratic process would have a venue to do so.

The ceding of American sovereignty to newly and secretively formed international bodies is an incredibly dangerous concept for many reasons. Noam Chomsky’s criticisms of the TPP are valid, and his concerns are very real. They only cover one aspect of probable corruption and reduction of American freedom, though.

Many progressives and libertarians are both fighting the TPP. They are trying to bring awareness to this dangerous treaty which is one of the most under reported issues in the media today.

Please give us your thoughts on TPP in the comment section below.

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