TPP and Free Trade Info Late Spring 2016

TPP and Free Trade info – Late Spring 2016

Posted on the “Global Economics” part of

 Watch the Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s TV programs on TPP and “Free Trade” through our website, Click the “TV Programs” link, scroll down to June 2016 and November 2013 to watch those highly informative programs. Next to the link for watching each program are links for thorough summaries in Word and .pdf formats.

“Free Trade” Schemes Are Basically a Corporate Coup:

The Fellowship of Reconciliation cares deeply about a wide range of issues. Our values support workers, consumers, human rights, environments, the climate, sustainability, farmers, local self-reliance, due process, and constitutional rights to democratic government. “Free trade” schemes such as NAFTA, the WTO, and new proposals for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the U.S./European equivalent, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) violate many of our deep values and seriously endanger much that we care about.

Powerful forces are trying hard to pass them through Congress after the November 8, 2016, election, when it will be too late for voters to hold politicians accountable. Decent people need to prevent passage of those “free trade” schemes.

In addition to the substantive information below, the Olympia FOR’s June 2016 TV program exposes many serious problems with these “free trade” schemes. Residents of Thurston County WA can watch it on TCTV cable channel 22 thirteen times during the month, and people everywhere can watch it anytime through their computers. Simply visit the “TV Programs” part of ,scroll down to June 2016, and click the link so you can watch this program. Next to that link is a link to read a thorough summary of the program in Word and .pdf formats. See the short TV article on page 9. Also, you can still watch our November 2013 TV program about the TPP and “free trade” through our website.

The “Global Economics” part of provides much more information, including a recent collection at the pdf or Word link for TPP and Free Trade info -- Early 2016

Mainstream politicians and news media either ignore these “free trade” schemes altogether or act as cheerleaders who fail to discuss these “free trade” schemes’ problems. It is up to us – acting as individuals and through the non-profit organizations to which we belong – to expose the problems and protect our rights.

EXAMPLES of “free trade” hurting environments:

Ten years of the U.S./Peru trade deal shows how the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would hurt the environment: The Peru - United States Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA) was signed in 2006 and went into effect in 2009. This was the first trade agreement to have an enforceable environment chapter, and its supporters promised that it would protect the Amazon’s rainforests, environmental standards, and human rights. The TPP’s environment chapter is based on the PTPA’s environmental chapter. However, in 2014 Peru’s government – seeking foreign investments – passed laws weakening protection for the environment and workers. The PTPA failed to stop the abuse, and President Obama failed to enforce the protections. Now a huge number of abuses in Peru (illegally cutting trees for export, assassinating indigenous people who tried to protect their forests and lands, etc.) persist, despite the PTPA’s promises of protection. The governments of Peru and the U.S. are allowing those abuses to continue. The TPP would include the U.S., Peru, and ten other nations, and it is worse than the PTPA. When Peru’s government – which had given a U.S.-based company two extensions to meet its environmental obligations – decided not to offer a third extension, the U.S.-based company sued Peru’s government in an investor-state arbitration tribunal for $800 million. This information came from the “Global Trade Watch” part of Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen organization (), which also states, “The TPP’s environmental chapter rolls back the environmental standards for trade deals set during the George W. Bush administration.”
Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch offers these sources:

1. “Peru’s story haunts the TPP” in The Hill
2. Sierra Club’s “The Peru Trade Deal Turns 10”
3. Global Witness’ “Peru’s Deadly Environment”
4. “Fatal Clashes Erupt in Peru at Roadblock” in The New York Times

Colombia wanted to protect the Amazon rainforest and denied a U.S. mining company’s request to do environmentally destructive mining there. The U.S. mining company sued Colombia for $16.5 BILLION under the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. This is just the tip of the iceberg. If Congress passes the TPP, this will happen all around the Pacific Rim. We ABSOLUTELY MUST STOP the reckless anti-environmental TPP and all other “free trade” scams. This information came from in February, March and April 2016. They offer this additional information:
US and Canadian Mining Companies Seek to Sue Colombia for $16.5 billion
Notice of Intent filing of Arbitration under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.

The Trans Pacific Partnership would seriously restrict effort to protect our environment on local, state and federal levels. The author of this article – Paul Craig Roberts – says the TPP and the analogous Atlantic trade deal (the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership – TTIP)have this basic purpose: “to give corporations immunity from the laws in the countries in which they do business.” See the article at:

The United Nations says the TPP threatens indigenous rights: This February 2016 article lays out some frightening dangers:

U.S. sues India to stop their big solar job-creating program. WTO agrees with U.S. and blocks it: We should encourage other nations to protect the climate, right? Create alternative energy, right? Create jobs in the new solar industry, right? The Obama Administration said WRONG! India was starting a bold program to create solar energy and create many jobs. But the administration of President Obama – who keeps telling us how much he cares about the climate – actually sued India to stop their job-creating solar program. The U.S. objected because India’s program would produce the solar equipment in India and create jobs for India’s workers instead of U.S. workers. See this article:

Will NAFTA force the U.S. to build the Keystone XL pipeline? People who care about the climate worked for years to finally convince President Obama to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport the world’s dirtiest oil through the U.S. for export. But in January 2016 the giant company exploiting Canada’s tar sands (and indigenous people and environment) sued the U.S for $15 billion. If the government loses this lawsuit, we U.S. taxpayers will end up paying. TransCanada is using NAFTA – the North American Free Trade Agreement – to file its lawsuit. But don’t expect any due process in a court of law. Under NAFTA – as with other “free trade” deals – the legal decision will be made in a private corporate-oriented tribunal without any public accountability. NAFTA is a disaster for the environment, and the TPP and TTIP would be even worse. See these three articles from January 6, 2016:

Obama hit with NAFTA challenge over Keystone pipeline, Politico

TransCanada sues U.S. over Keystone XL pipeline rejection, Reuters

, Friends of the Earth

Background information leading up to the TPP and TTIP shows that they would be much worse than the politicians are admitting: See this informative article from mid-February 2016:

WTO endangers dolphins. A longer number of years ago when Congress used to actually function, it passed a law protecting dolphins from unnecessary deaths from reckless tuna fishing practices. Tuna fishing companies that complied with strong “dolphin-safe” practices were allowed to put a special “dolphin-safe” logo on their tuna can labels. But a Mexican tuna fishing company that did not give a damn about dolphins sued the U.S. under WTO because this preference for “dolphin-safe” practices implied that killing dolphins was wrong and interfered with the Mexican company’s “free trade” rights. The WTO agreed with that “free trade” argument and forced the U.S. to repeal the law. Tuna labels will soon stop allowing that label.

More Information about the TPP:

The United Nations says the TPP threatens indigenous rights: This February 2016 article lays out some frightening dangers:

These “free trade” deals are bi-partisan. They have been vigorously pushed by Bill Clinton (WTO and NAFTA) and several Republicans and Barack Obama (who pushed George W. Bush’s “free trade” deals with Colombia, Panama and South Korea and is pushing George W. Bush’s TPP and TTIP).

Read THE NEXT THREE ITEMS written BEFORE the USITC’s report was released.
Then read the item immediately following AFTER the report was issued:

In late May 2016 the U.S. government’s International Trade Commission (USITC) will issue a terribly inaccurate report about the TPP’s likely effects: Federal law requires the government (U.S. International Trade Commission – USITC) to release a report projecting the likely economic effects of each pending major trade agreement. The report on the TPP is due in late May. Previous trade deals’ reports have painted rosy predictions, but the deals’ actual results have been bad. We expect this for the TPP report too. The non-profit organization Global Trade Watch () is part of Public Citizen (), the non-profit organization Ralph Nader founded in 1971. Global Trade Watch states that the USITC’s reports about previous trade deals upon which the TPP is based have painted rosy forecasts, while the results actually have been “lost U.S. jobs, cut wages and increased income inequality.”Global Trade Watch reports the following gap between rosy projection and the reality:

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA):

•USITC Projection — The report for NAFTA predicted that we would enjoy a growing trade surplus with Mexico and that NAFTA would increase U.S. employment by about 1 percent.

•Reality — The opposite occurred. A $2.6 billion goods trade surplus with Mexico morphed into a $106 billion deficit. And 845,000 Americans were certified as NAFTA job-loss casualties under one program that significantly undercounts such job losses.

The U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA):

•USITC Projection — The Korea FTA would result in our trade deficit with Korea being cut in half as U.S. exports to Korea would go up 3 percent while imports from Korea would rise more slowly at 1 percent.

•Reality — Nope. The U.S. trade deficit with Korea doubled in the pact’s first four years. U.S. exports actually shrank 9 percent with declines in 11 of the 15 sectors that export the most to Korea, and imports from Korea have jumped 19 percent. (This is especially ominous since the Korea FTA was the template for the TPP.)

China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR):

•USITC Projection — The U.S. trade deficit would worsen only slightly, from $113 billion to $120 billion.

•Reality — Wrong again! The U.S. trade deficit with China has exploded, rising to $340 billion in 2015. That is the largest trade deficit in history and bigger than the entire economies of many countries, including Denmark, Malaysia and New Zealand.

Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch prepared this rebuttal in anticipation of the USITC’s late May 2016 report:

Likewise, the Citizens Trade Campaign is alerting the public – and urging Congress – not to be fooled by the USITC: Highlighting the notorious secrecy in which the TPP was developed by hundreds of lobbyists for giant transnational corporations, the Citizens Trade Campaign () states that the USITC’s report is part of the “spin campaign” that has been misleading the public. They urge people to contact our members of Congress, set them straight, and urge them to publicly oppose the TPP. The Citizens Trade Campaign states that the USITC ignored the testimony that thousands of Americans had persisted with the TPP’s juggernaut. However, the Citizens Trade Campaign also states that “buried beneath the rosy headlines, the study actually found that in the TPP’s first fifteen years:

•The United States’ global trade deficit would increase by $21.7 billion;

•That we’d see a worsened balance of trade in 16 out of the 25 specific product areas it chose to feature, including everything from auto parts to corn to financial services;

•That there would be a decline in output for U.S. manufacturing, natural resources and energy of $10.8 billion; and

•That even the U.S. balance in trade services would worsen by $2.2 billion.

Also, the USITC says growth would increase only by a negligible 0.15% by the year 2032. For more information visit

A People’s Economic Impact Statement offers information different from the government’s line: A great source of information and organizing --– said this on May 16, 2016:

The US International Trade Commission is required to release its economic impact statement this week and we are expecting more of the usual rosy predictions that have been made about trade agreements and that are proven wrong over and over again.
For a dose of truth, read the People's Economic Impact Statementhere. Jared Bernstein of the Washington Post explains why the impacts of trade have a ripple effect that are not often discussed. And Nicholas Florko of Public Citizen writes about a new study which shows that government predictions about the past three agreements have been the opposite of reality.
We need to give our members of Congress some truth to counter this misinformation. We encourage you to send them the People's Economic Impact statement for the TPP by email, letter or in person. CLICK HERE to find it.

The USITC’s report was released on May 18, 2016. See this information:

The government’s own report (released May 18, 2016) says the TPP is not worth passing. See

Global Trade Watch (a part of Public Citizen – ) issued a summary of the USITC’s May 18 report, reporting that the TPP would hurt US trade balances in 16 out of 25 trade sectors and produce nearly zero economic growth through the year 2032. Meanwhile, a Tufts University report predicted the TPP would eliminate many U.S. jobs and would pressure U.S. wages downward in order to compete with low-wage countries. Global Trade Watch lambastes the ridiculous assumptions of the USITC’s economic model, which lay the groundwork for minimizing the TPP’s problems and exaggerating its meager benefits. See more information at this link:

A Free Speech TV interview featuring Thom Hartmann and Global Trade Watch Executive Director Lori Wallach confirms that new information shows that the TPP would kill many American jobs. See

Congress is afraid to pass the TPP before the election, but probably will try during the “lame duck” session after Nov. 8, when it’s too late for voters to hold them accountable. We must pressure Congress now to defeat TPP:

Join the growing movement to prevent Congress from passing the TPP after the November 8 election: If President Obama thinks he can twist enough arms to get the votes to pass the TPP he could introduce it in September and try to pass it after November 8. We must prevent the TPP legislation from being introduced starting now. CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE NO LAME DUCK UPRISING.The #NoLameDuck Uprisingwill pressure Congress through the summer to commit to opposing the TPP during the “lame duck” session. Here's a new email and call-in tool that you can use to contact your member of Congress: FighttheTPP.org. When you call, please tell your member to oppose the TPP and that there should not be a vote on the TPP during the lame duck session.

Good sources of information and organizing:

The Olympia FOR’s June 2016 TV program (watchable through the “TV Programs” part of ) is a good source of information. Watch it and/or read the thorough summary of the issue at that link.

Many non-profit organizations have produced high quality information about the TPP and “free trade” schemes. Near the end of the TV interview I mentioned the list printed below. We also list them with the TV program’s closing credits.