TPP opposition is growing around the world

<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cracks continue to appear in support for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Big businesses’ favorite trade pact is now raising concerns from </span><a href="http://infojustice.org/archives/30448" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">three Chilean senators, who are asking President Sebastián Piñera to open up the agreement to public debate</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: blue;">. </span></u></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Those questions come just one week before a meeting of trade representatives from Pacific Rim nations in Brunei, which they hope will seal this very bad deal.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL5GNPh4L9dyFEjafZgdiLgok9fpP5_M0vgNOuTOWAXZejHvGXGnGsP1spLECr7NtKsbzE1Y7RlXgK3QNdhzmGV_vRO4iWp0vuqjkx_b7TV33eLlje3d5hnhidRw71jJ4kMMouyRMMkqih/s1600/tpp.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL5GNPh4L9dyFEjafZgdiLgok9fpP5_M0vgNOuTOWAXZejHvGXGnGsP1spLECr7NtKsbzE1Y7RlXgK3QNdhzmGV_vRO4iWp0vuqjkx_b7TV33eLlje3d5hnhidRw71jJ4kMMouyRMMkqih/s320/tpp.jpeg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The request comes as more and more nations are raising questions about whether the TPP will benefit working families rather than big corporations. </span><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/08/other-countries-sound-off-on-TPP.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Attendees at a Malaysian forum</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> on the “free trade” agreement earlier this month openly questioned whether the deal would benefits their workers or just multinational corporations. They too are concerned what it would mean for jobs in their country. <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Others have also spoken out against this unfair trade deal. The former prime minister of Malaysia announced his opposition to the deal in July. In the United States, </span><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/07/growing-congressional-criticism-exposes.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">nearly 170 House lawmakers</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> raised concerns about textile provisions contained in the TPP last month. And </span><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/06/freshmen-house-dems-dont-give-away-our.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">36 House freshmen</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> urged the Obama administration to oppose the TPP in June.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Back in Chile, lawmakers want to know whether the Pacific Rim trade pact would be fair to workers. There is good reason for concern. They note the secrecy surrounding the TPP is raising worries that there may be little for Chile to gain from signing onto the agreement. <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> In the U.S., trade deals very similar to the TPP resulted in lost jobs, shuttered plants and hollowed-out communities. <o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/06/freshmen-house-dems-dont-give-away-our.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Five million manufacturing jobs</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> have been lost since NAFTA. And an </span><a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/trade-pacts-korus-trans-pacific-partnership/" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Economic Policy institute report</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> released last month showed a similar deal with South Korea that took effect a little over a year ago has already cost 40,000 American jobs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Buffalo, N.Y., resident Peter Ciurczak, </span><a href="http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130813/OPINION/130819730/1119&template=printart" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">in a letter to the editor</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> appearing in The Buffalo News earlier this week, summed up the TPP perfectly:</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What has been revealed about this agreement is very distressing.</span></blockquote></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Exactly.</span></div>

TPP opposition is growing around the world

Cracks continue to appear in support for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Big businesses’ favorite trade pact is now raising concerns from...

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