In order to secure a new international trade
agreement with Pacific nations, the Obama administration appears willing to
grant foreign corporations the power to avoid
This revelation came in the form of a leaked
document posted online by Citizens Trade Campaign. The material came from
negotiations to establish a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact and its
authenticity verified by Public Citizen.
According to the Huffington Post, which also
reviewed the document, foreign corporations operating within the U.S. could
disregard certain domestic requirements and regulations by appealing to an
international tribunal—that would have the
power to overrule American law.
"The outrageous
stuff in this leaked text," wrote Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's
Global Trade Watch, "may well be why U.S. trade officials have been so extremely
secretive about these past two years of [trade] negotiations."
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers in
Congress have complained about the secretive talks and being kept in the dark.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) has introduced legislation requiring the
administration to disclose details of the discussions.
Although Congress has not been privy to the
negotiations, 600
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa
(R-Calif.) has gone so far as to leak a separate document from the talks on his
website. Other Senators are considering writing a letter to Ron Kirk, the top
trade negotiator under Obama, demanding more disclosure.
westernjournalism.com "This isn't just a
bad trade agreement," Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade
Watch says. "This is a 'one-percenter' power tool that could rip up our basic
needs and rights." democracynow.org The TPP is the first trade pact the Obama
administration is negotiating. Wednesday's [June 13] leak further complicates
the administration's goal of completing TPP negotiations this fall. Already the
TPP timeline was generating political headaches for the Obama re-election campaign, as repeated
Although the TPP has been branded a "trade"
agreement, the leaked text of the pact's Investment Chapter shows that the TPP
would: - Limit how - Extend the incentives for
- Establish a two-track legal system
that gives foreign firms new rights to skirt -
Allow foreign firms to demand compensation for the costs of complying
with
AN/SM
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