Trade: TPP isn't a good deal for the US

Your recent editorial (TNT, 2-24) advocated passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would restrict tariffs or laws interfering with international trade. Your readers should know the other side.

The proposed agreement was negotiated in secret by corporations with our elected representatives barred and ordinary citizens kept in ignorance. After some eight years of secret negotiations, governments are now given only 60 days to approve or not.

Perhaps the legislation would increase corporate profits. But here are just a few examples of other consequences. Outsourcing of jobs would increase. (Remember NAFTA? It was supposed to increase jobs, too.)

Access to generic medications would be further delayed, making life-saving treatments not affordable to many. Corporations would be able to sue for loss of expected profits, such as from passage of regulations to protect the environment or limit climate change. Their suits would be in “courts” having a corporate lawyer as judge and jury and no right to appeal.

In my view, if TPP becomes law we can forget about curbing climate change. Protecting the environment would be more difficult as well.

Economist Robert Reich says, “The TPP is a Trojan horse in a global race to the bottom.” I agree.

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 11:11 AM with the headline "Trade: TPP isn't a good deal for the US."