Protesters urge President Obama to ‘flush’ Pacific trade deal
Reuters | 20 Sep 2013
Protesters urge President Obama to ‘flush’ Pacific trade deal
By DOUG PALMER
Flush the Trans-Pacific Partnership!
That’s the message that opponents of the proposed blockbuster Pacific Rim trade deal had on Friday for President Barack Obama as negotiations on the landmark regional free-trade agreement near a possible conclusion this year.
A crowd of about 60 activists chanted their disapproval of the proposed agreement outside the office of the U.S. Trade Representative while a juggler wearing a dark business suit and a huge Obama mask repeatedly dropped his bowling pins marked “Jobs,” “Truth” and “Peace”
Speakers such as Melinda St. Louis, international campaigns director for Public Citizen, stood in front of a large cardboard-constructed roll of toilet paper, labeled the “TPP Death Star,” to drive home their “this trade pact is poop” point.
“Regulating Wall Street is what we need. It’s time to flush the TPP. Protecting workers is what we need. It’s time to flush the TPP,” St. Louis shouted into a microphone to lead the enthusiastic crowd in a preview of the opposition the administration could face if it submits a completed pact to Congress for approval next year.
The protest came just one day after Obama and other administration officials praised the proposed agreement in remarks to the President’s Export Council, which advises the White House on trade.
U.S. Trade Representative Mike Froman said the United States was striving in the talks to open new markets for American goods and to infuse higher standards for workers rights, the environment and business priorities like intectual property rights protection into the global “bloodstream.”
But Kenneth Peres, chief economist for the Communication Workers of America, said the closed-door nature of the negotiations were a threat to democracy in favor of big corporations.
“It’s going to erode our wages, just like other free trade pacts have,” Peres said,
Chief negotiators from the 12 TPP countries - the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Peru and Chile - are in Washington to discuss some of the more difficult issues in the negotiations, which have already lasted more than three years.
Obama said on Thursday that countries were getting close to wrapping up the talks, although some trade policy experts think negotiations could stretch into next year.
