Friday, March 27, 2015

WikiLeaks exposes a chapter of the TPP that was never meant to be seen until four years after the TPP passes. Working with the New York

Dot,

We got a sneak peek inside the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement--and it's not good. 


The New York Times and Wikileaks leaked a classified chapter that showed the TPP "would allow foreign corporations to sue the United States government for actions that undermine their investment “expectations” and hurt their business."1

  
This means major industries like Big Tobacco and Big Pharma would be able to challenge US environmental and labor laws at every level, from the federal down to local.

This chapter sheds more light on just how much this bad deal will protect wealthy interests at the expense of everyday working families. 


And we have to do everything in our power to stop it.

Thousands of activists across the country are making their voices heard. 


Will you join them?

 Click here to add your name to our petition demanding Congress to vote NO on fast-tracking the TPP!

This leaked TPP chapter gives multinational companies the right to sue the US government over any regulation that might undermine their "investment expectations."1 


That means that any law that a corporation thinks might hurt their profits is grounds to sue the United States--and settle the dispute in offshore arbitration, at the taxpayer's expense.

This danger doesn't just lie with the United States.


Poorer countries who sign onto the deal will be easy targets for corporations with a lot of cash and nothing to lose. 

Corporations could decide to challenge a country's minimum wage for affecting big profits and drag them through a lengthy--and costly--legal battle.

As New York Senator Chuck Schumer said, “It seems to indicate that savvy, deep-pocketed foreign conglomerates could challenge a broad range of laws we pass at every level of government, such as made-in-America laws or anti-tobacco laws. 


I think people on both sides of the aisle will have trouble with this.”

The TPP was written in secret by corporate lobbyists and industry insiders and we're only now seeing the fine-print details--through leaks. 


This chapter wasn't even supposed to be revealed for four years. 

We can't afford a trade deal that's like NAFTA on steroids. 

It's time to make sure Congress hears from us.

Click here to add your name to our petition demanding Congress to vote NO on fast-tracking the TPP! 

Thanks for all you do,

Amanda Johnson
Working Families

Source
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/business/trans-pacific-partnership-seen-as-door-for-foreign-suits-against-us.html?ref=business&_r=1