Public Comment on Trans-Pacific Partnership, to the U.S. Trade Representative
by David Korten
January 7, 2016
U.S. Trade Representative:
This is my response to your call for public comment on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and its impact on American jobs.
I have seen a consistent pattern over the past 20 plus years. The USTR and the President negotiate and sell each new trade agreement to Congress and the American people with the promise that it will increase American exports to create new American jobs. The greatest export growth turns out to be in the export of high wage American jobs to countries with low wages and worker protections.
The public interest group Public Citizen concludes that, if passed, the TPP will:
- Make it easier for big corporations to ship our jobs overseas, pushing down our wages and increasing income inequality…
Obama’s Push for Corporate Rule: A Moment of Opportunity
by David Korten
June 25, 2015
Only a few months ago, President Obama was at loggerheads with Republican members of Congress intent on destroying his administration. With bewildering speed, President Obama has since turned against his own political base to form an alliance with those same Republican members of Congress. Read more at YES! Magazine…
Open Message to President Obama re Fast Track for TPP
from David Korten
April 24, 2015
President Obama: If this agreement is truly different from previous trade agreements, let us see the documents and point out to us exactly where the wording differs. Why should I believe your “facts” you resolutely refuse to let me see? The facts I have are from the only document available to me, the draft Investment chapter leaked by WikiLeaks. Read more…
Open Message to Senator Cantwell re Fast Track Vote
from David Korten
April 23, 2015
Senator Cantwell: I have long voted Democratic and have been a financial contributor to your campaigns in the past.
I am deeply disappointed that you voted to allow Fast Track authority to move forward even after your constituents made it clear that we do not support TPP. In your vote for Fast Track you have clearly made a choice to sacrifice democracy and our national sovereignty to global corporate rule. Read more…
Corporatists Advance on TPP Fast Track
By David Korten
April 17, 2015
Yesterday, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), and Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) struck a deal to introduce Fast Track legislation to limit the ability of Congress to debate and amend the TPP and to speed its approval in the face of rapidly growing public resistance. Read more…
A Trade Rule That Makes It Illegal To Favor Local Business? Newest Leak Show TPP Would Do That and More
by David Korten
April 15, 2015
Secret negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade and investment agreement involving 12 nations of the Pacific Rim, are coming to a close, and President Barack Obama will soon submit the final agreement to the U.S. Congress for approval. Read more at YES! Magazine…
Do Corporations Really Need More Rights? Why Fast Track for the TPP is a Bad Idea
By David Korten
March 9, 2015
President Obama is currently pressing members of Congress to pass Fast-Track authority for a trade and investment agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). If Fast Track passes, it means that Congress must approve or deny the TPP with minimal debate and no amendments. Astonishingly, our lawmakers have not seen the agreement they are being asked to expedite. Read more at YES! Magazine…