MORE FROM HUFFPOST
MORE FROM HUFFPOST
obama trade policy
Pacts like the recently-signed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), currently sidelined without sufficient congressional support for passage, contain thousands of pages of enforceable rules that would fuel climate chaos and empower corporate polluters to challenge environmental laws across the globe.
Can reasonable people disagree about the issues at hand in the TPP and TTIP? Absolutely. The president is wrong to suggest that his supporters in Congress and beyond are irresponsible when they question these agreements -- particularly given that his administration continues to keep them classified as a "national security" matter.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
WHAT'S HAPPENING
The administration says the trade deal will boost U.S. exports in the fast-growing Pacific basin where the United States faces growing economic competition from China. The TPP is part of Obama's strategy to contain China's economic and strategic prowess. Fine. But the deal will also allow American corporations to outsource even more jobs abroad. In other words, the TPP is a Trojan horse in a global race to the bottom, giving big corporations and Wall Street banks a way to eliminate any and all laws and regulations that get in the way of their profits.
A report due to be released Tuesday aims to offer an object lesson to President Barack Obama: Free trade deals have high costs in unintended consequences for the environment, people's way of life, and local sovereignty.
