On Tuesday, November 8, the election of Donald Trump foretold the death-knell of the Trans-Pacific Partnership — assuming of course he meant what he said when he made opposition to the jobs- and sovereignty-destroying TPP a signature part of his campaign. On Monday, November 21, President-elect Trump posted a short video message on Facebook (available here on YouTube) citing several executive actions he would take on “day one” as president. First mentioned: “I am going to issue a notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership, a potential disaster for our country.”
In the same video, Trump also said: “My agenda will be based on a simple core principle: putting America First.”
RIP TPP! And, perhaps, RIP to some other elements of the globalist, America-last agenda, as well. We shall see.
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The TPP was sold as a “trade deal,” a “free trade agreement” that would bring back jobs to the United States and ensure the opportunity for every citizen to improve his lot. Last October Obama’s White House was positively giddy about its benefits:
[The TPP would allow] free and fair trade that would support our workers, our businesses, and our economy as a whole…. [The agreement] reflects America’s values and gives our workers a fair shot at the success they deserve.
Nothing was mentioned in that release about what America would have to give up to become a part of the 30-chapter, 5,600 page agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries hammered out in secret over the last seven years: huge chunks of its national sovereignty. Instead the agreement itself claims to “promote economic growth; support the creation and retention of jobs; enhance innovation, productivity and competitiveness; raise living standards; reduce poverty … and promote transparency, good governance, and enhanced labor environmental protections.”
As details about the TPP leaked out (thanks to WikiLeaks), enthusiasm for the deal waned. The agreement wouldn’t impact just farming and manufacturing but also intellectual property, patents, copyright law, digital goods, banking regulations, pharmaceutical regulations, environmental protection, tobacco sales, apparel manufacturing, labor law, and regulations about publicly and privately owned utilities and businesses.
After Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) reviewed the document in its entirety, he exposed its real purpose — and real danger — in a speech on the floor of the Senate:
[The TPP] creates a commission … which has vast powers to govern the agreement, and govern … the countries who participate in it. Among the powers given to the commission is the authority to consider any matter relating to implementation and operation of the agreement and to consider amendments and modifications. [Emphasis added.]
This is a new entity [which] ges to meet and vote and set new behaviors, unlike what we approve in the Senate.
In other words, once ratified, the Senate would be giving up, irrevocably, precious constitutional powers to a new international commission staffed with unelected officials from other countries whose interests may be inimical to those of America.
Michelle Malkin was blunt: Congressional leaders pushing for the TPP, such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, will “have sold out American sovereignty. Their so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership Commission will have sweeping authority over trade, immigration, environment, labor and commerce.”
Reality over the demise of the TPP was recognized by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who, being informed that Trump was pulling the plug, admitted that “the TPP would be meaningless without the United States.” Indeed, that was one of the prime purposes behind the TPP: to entangle the United States in international agreements that would override its constitutional limitations.
Remarkably, what Trump is doing is keeping his promises. Not being a politician, he is allowed to do that. In his foreign policy speech on April 27, Trump promised:
My foreign policy will always put the interests of the American people, and American security, above all else. That will be the foundation of every decision that I will make. America First will be the major and overriding theme of my administration. [Emphasis added.]
In ending America’s participation in the deceptive and sovereignty threatening TPP, Trump is keeping that promise.
An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American magazine and blogs frequently at LightFromTheRight.com, primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at [email protected].
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