'Free trade' deal a bad deal for all

'Free trade' deal a bad deal for all

Who really fails "the Trade Test"?

The ones who wrote the article, "Failing the trade test," actually fail the trade test. Any trade agreement needs to be in the best interests of our country and people. The TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) was negotiated with huge input by representatives of large multinational corporations, big banks, big pharma and big agriculture to benefit those groups. Unsurprisingly the TPP does not meet this test. It at best ignores citizen needs when it does not actually harm them.

And, in an interesting twist, there is a process whereby if a foreign corporation believes that any unit of government (whether city, state or country) makes a rule or law that impedes the profits of that corporation, that corporation can sue the unit of government for loss of expected profits. This provision could lead to us being sued for protecting the environment or workers' rights or even for requiring clean, safe baby food. Such suits will be heard in a special tribunal set up by this trade agreement and not in our own court system.

Foreshadowing our TPP trade future, the owners of the proposed oil pipeline that the Obama administration denied are now suing for $15 billion in lost projected profits under a similar provision of the NAFTA trade agreement. We are not just getting a bad deal on trade, we are also in effect giving up our sovereignty. To be clear, the ones who "fail the trade test" are those who support these "free trade" deals that give this country and all of us in it a bad deal.

Let's reject this TPP and start talking about trade deals that help us not hurt us.