Following a signing ceremony on February 4 in New Zealand, the Obama administration is calling on the GOP-controlled Congress to hurry up and approve the massive “free-trade” regime known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Despite fierce opposition and the ongoing presidential primaries, Obama’s Trade Representative, Michael Froman, said he was confident that Republican lawmakers would comply with the White House’s demand in the months ahead, warning of “economic consequences” if Congress did not make haste. At this point, though, approval appears to be far from certain.
Dubbed “Obamatrade” by critics, the deeply controversial treaty has opponents up in arms all across the political spectrum, despite support from the establishment wing of both parties. Conservatives have blasted, among other elements, the agreement’s full-blown assaults on national sovereignty and self-government. Liberals, meanwhile, are decrying what they view as a lack of serious protections for labor, the environment, and more. On both sides of the political spectrum, opponents also worry that the scheme could facilitate a stepped-up exodus of U.S. jobs, businesses, and manufacturing.
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Similar concerns are being expressed by critics in other countries set to be ensnared under the TPP regime. At the signing ceremony in Auckland, New Zealand, which brought together “trade ministers” from the 12 governments and dictatorships participating in the TPP, hundreds of furious protesters gathered in opposition. Later that day, over 10,000 opponents of the machinations marched through the city to denounce the agreement and to pressure lawmakers not to pass the legislation required to impose TPP on the nation.
In the United States, the TPP has become a potential mine-field amid the presidential primaries as candidates rush to distance themselves from the scheme. Obamatrade chief Froman, though, demanded swift ratification, claiming there would be “costs” if lawmakers did not submit promptly. “After five years of negotiation, signing the TPP is an important milestone in our efforts to set high-standard rules of the road in the Asia Pacific region and more generally, and to deliver an agreement that will benefit American workers, farmers and businesses,” claimed Froman, a member of the global-government-promoting Council on Foreign Relations. “There are costs to delay, real economic costs. It’s imperative to move forward.”
Froman claimed, almost certainly falsely, according to experts and critics, that the deal would add $100 billion per year in growth to the U.S. economy. He also argued that ratifying the scheme would position the U.S. government as a “leader” in establishing what he described as “21st century standards” at the global level for everything from trade and intellectual property to the Internet, labor, and the environment. Why global standards are needed was not explained, nor was the definition of “21st century” standards. “It also has important geopolitical benefits,” Froman claimed. “The U.S. is and has long been a Pacific power. TPP is a concrete manifestation of our re-balancing strategy towards Asia.”
In trying to build support for congressional approval, Obama claimed, falsely, that TPP was a “new” type of trade regime that “puts American workers first.” According to a recent forecast of TPP’s imagined future effects by the globalist World Bank, though, the communist dictatorship enslaving Vietnam will actually be the biggest winner, with an expected GDP increase of about 10 percent. After that, the Islamic governments of Malaysia and Brunei are the next biggest winners, with expected boosts to GDP of between five and eight percent.
The United States economy, by contrast, is at the very bottom of the list, with the World Bank forecasting TPP-related GDP growth at a fraction of one percent — slightly more than Russia’s economy is expected to grow due to TPP. Of course, the World Bank is hardly a reliable source for accurate information — much less for predictions about the future when a globalist trade deal is involved. But it would not be surprising or unusual to learn that Americans would come dead last and a communist dictatorship would emerge as the largest beneficiary of the U.S. government’s “foreign policy.”
In the United States, the apparently desperate claims of Obama and Froman appear to be falling on deaf ears, at least as far as the public and the presidential candidates are concerned. According to media reports, Obama has been meeting with congressional leaders of the supposed opposition party in a bid to secure support. Yet these same Republican leaders, after being elected on a platform of stopping Obama, promptly handed the White House Trade Promotion Authority (aka “Fast Track”) to ram through the schemes.
In public, at least, the GOP leadership is pretending to have concerns about the Obamatrade regime. “I have some problems with the agreement,” claimed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, citing “a number of flaws” in the deal. “With both the Democratic candidates for president opposed to the deal and a number of presidential candidates in our party opposed to the deal, it is my advice that we not pursue that, certainly before the election. And some would argue that it’s not fair to the voters for them not to consider what you might do after the election.” But he did not rule out approving the scheme, vowing to “keep talking about it and see if there’s a way forward.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan, who outraged conservatives for betraying voters and the Constitution shortly after taking over, also cited “a number of concerns” on TPP raised by lawmakers that he said “must still be addressed.” After Congress approved Fast Track, it surrendered its ability to modify trade agreements. Either way, though, Ryan has been a leading cheerleader for Obamatrade. He was also an instrumental accomplice in imposing Obama’s broader agenda, ramming through the administration’s radical education agenda and a $1.1 trillion budget funding everything from Planned Parenthood and amnesty to global-warming alarmism and executive orders on gun control.
At this point, the Republican base has seemingly lost confidence in GOP congressional leaders. However, a large and growing number of non-establishment Republican lawmakers have vowed to stand firm against TPP. On the Democrat side, numerous members of Congress have also lambasted the deal and urged their colleagues to shoot it down. On the presidential campaign trail, virtually all candidates have tried to distance themselves from TPP. Leading GOP contender Donald Trump, though, has offered the most forceful vow to block TPP. At the grassroots level, conservative organizations, labor unions, liberal groups, and more are all lining up to oppose TPP as well.
Negotiations on the TPP scheme were formally concluded last October at a meeting in Atlanta. It is one of several globalist “free trade” regimes pushed by Obama, including the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), that would crush national sovereignty and accelerate the quest for what internationalists refer to as “global governance.” However, with opposition to TPP surging all across America and the political spectrum, the globalists and crony capitalists supporting Obamatrade may have a tougher time getting it rubber-stamped in Congress than they expected. For more on the dangers of TPP and Obamatrade, check out the articles linked below.
Photo of President Obama with Speaker of the House Ryan and Senate Majority Leader McConnell: AP Images
Alex Newman, a foreign correspondent for The New American, is normally based in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU. He can be reached at [email protected].
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