Major hoodwinking
Another reason the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a bad idea for the U.S. is because it can trump our laws and therefore our national sovereignty. Here’s how: Any company in any “partnership” nation can sue any country for getting in the way of making money. These decisions will be final because the TPP courts will be independent. Worse, the TPP court judges will be the lawyers who already represent these multinational corporations. U.S. laws governing drug and food safety or air and water standards or working conditions could easily be challenged; our tax money would pay the fines.
President Obama claims the TPP would require high standards for other nations to meet. But there is no way to verify this because everything has been developed in tight secrecy; even our national representatives have had zero access. Now, Obama wants to “fast-track” this through Congress: no discussion, no amendments, just yes or no. This should raise everyone’s suspicion that a major hoodwinking is underway.
Will the TPP benefit the common good or only corporate profits? We need to see it to decide. Tell Washington to put this on hold for a year – or kill it now.
David E. Roy
Fresno
This story was originally published May 24, 2015 at 8:35 AM with the headline "Major hoodwinking."