On Monday, trade negotiators finalized the text for the largest trade deal in history: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). While the public has been shut out of the process, massive multinational corporations have been deeply involved in developing the TPP and have crafted it to suit their interests.
Leaked documents have revealed just how terrible this trade deal is, including a provision that would allow companies to sue the federal, state, or even local governments over democratically enacted laws that they claim hurt their profits.
That means that if the TPP is approved by Congress, local initiatives like GMO labeling laws and Buy Local preferences could be challenged in international trade courts.
We've had two decades since NAFTA to see the results of free trade agreements that override domestic policy: lost jobs and lower standards. The TPP will take us even further down this failed path.
Now it's up to Congress to pass or reject the TPP. Once the clock starts ticking, we have about four-and-a-half months to stop this deal. This puts the final vote on the TPP right in the middle of the 2016 presidential primaries. The political spotlight created by the primaries gives us a fighting chance to stop this bad deal, but we need to speak up loud and clear.
Tell your members of Congress: Vote NO on the Trans-Pacific Partnership.