[CTC] Third batch of TPP signing statements

Thu Feb 4 05:16:01 PST 2016

Here are statements from 350.org, American Friends Service Committee, the Institute for Policy Studies, Institute for Trade and Investment Policy, Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment and the National Farmers Union...

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

February 3, 2016
350.org: Toxic Trans-Pacific Partnership is a Climate Disaster
Global — The Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal to be signed in New Zealand this Thursday is a toxic deal that would give dangerous new powers to the fossil fuel industry and pose a serious harm to the climate, according to the global climate campaign 350.org.
“The TPP is a fossil fuel industry handout,” said Payal Parekh, 350.org Global Managing Director. “This partnership in pollution gives corporations the right to challenge any local government or community that tries to keep fossil fuels in the ground. The deal signed in New Zealand today makes a mockery of the climate agreement decided in Paris last December. If countries are serious about addressing the climate crisis, they need to stand up to coal, oil and gas companies, not reward them with new rights and privileges.” 
350.org is one of many organizations around the world who will be mobilizing its members to fight back against the TPP and block its final approval and implementation. 
In the United States, the organization has delivered tens of thousands of signatures to Congress and the White House calling on them to reject the deal. 
“This toxic deal will be a stain on President Obama’s climate legacy,” said Jason Kowalski, 350.org Policy Director. “The TPP would expand the rules that TransCanada is currently using to sue the US government for $15 billion over President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. This is like giving your opposing team in the Super Bowl the right to overturn the referees whenever they want. It’s bad policy, bad politics, and a bad deal for our country.”
“This toxic and secretive agreement is not only a climate disaster, but a serious affront on democracy,” said Hoda Baraka, Global Communications Manager. “The TPP serves the interests of corporations at the expense of people and planet giving them supranational legal powers to be enacted through private and non-transparent trade tribunals. But the might of our movement is greater than their money or manipulation and we will continue to stand up for a safe planet putting an end to such destructive agreements and the corporate interests behind them.”
This May, 350.org and international partners are organizing a week of action called “Break Free <http://breakfree2016.org/>” when activists on nearly every continent will host major protests and direct action at some of the most devastating fossil fuel projects on the planet. 
### 

For Immediate Release

Press contact: Benjamin Prado, AFSC
619-829-7130, bpradom at afsc.org <mailto:bpradom at afsc.org>
Trans Pacific Partnership signed despite ongoing opposition

San Diego, CA (February 3, 2016) On February 4th, the U.S. and 11 other countries will sign the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a massive trade and investment agreement that will endanger our environmental protections, deepen inequality, and hand more power to multinational corporations, according to the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker organization with decades of experience mobilizing around trade issues.

Despite the signing, the TPP is not a done deal, says Kathryn Johnson, AFSC's policy impact coordinator. "Millions around the world continue to oppose the TPP, and protests are planned in several cities in the U.S. The TPP still has to be ratified by member countries, and in the U.S. many members of Congress in both parties oppose the pact."

AFSC is part of a broad-based movement opposing the TPP. This movement includes groups working on the environment, immigrant rights, consumer protection, workers’ rights, food safety, internet freedom, and access to medicines.

According to AFSC’s San Diego program coordinator Benjamin Prado, "in Latin America and in our immigrant rights’ work here in the U.S., AFSC has witnessed the economic devastation wrought by similar trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The TPP is modeled on these agreements and perpetuates the same disastrous policies. In addition, the TPP would delay the introduction of generic medicines and allow corporations to bypass a country’s judicial system to challenge environmental and public health laws."

AFSC is mobilizing concerned community members across the country to write their congress people and ask them to vote “no” on the TPP if it comes before Congress.

"It's little wonder that the TPP is practically a corporate wish list," says Kathryn Johnson. "Over 600 corporate advisors participated in the negotiations, shaping the agreement to benefit themselves. This pact put corporations firmly in the driver’s seat for creating health, environmental and economic policies around the globe. It must be stopped."

# # #
The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that promotes lasting peace with justice, as a practical expression of faith in action. Drawing on continuing spiritual insights and working with people of many backgrounds, we nurture the seeds of change and respect for human life that transform social systems.

By Signing the World’s Largest Trade Pact, U.S. Government is Gambling with our Future <http://www.ips-dc.org/signing-worlds-largest-trade-pact-u-s-government-gambling-future/>
IPS Statement on the Signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
FEBRUARY 3, 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today top officials from twelve Pacific Rim countries gathered in New Zealand’s SkyCity casino to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, a wide-reaching trade pact aimed at opening national borders to the flow of goods, services and finance.

John Cavanagh, Director of the Institute for Policy Studies, warned, “The White House is making a risky bet by signing the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It hopes to win more access to raw materials, cheap labor and bourgeoning consumer markets in Asia for U.S. companies. But because the TPP allows foreign companies to sue our government over laws that protect workers and the environment, this administration is gambling with our jobs, our health, and our sovereignty.”

Janet Redman, the Institute’s Climate Policy Program Director, commented, “This agreement would give thousands of corporations in TPP countries the right to take the U.S. government to court for passing laws to secure climate stability and protect our kids’ futures. The case TransCanada filed against us for saying no the Keystone XL pipeline should teach us a lesson – just because we’ve never lost a case before, we’re not immune to investor challenges. The bigger we bet on free trade, the more we have to lose.”

The Institute for Policy Studies has researched the impact of trade and investment agreements on workers, the environment, and democracy since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994.  See, for example, “Lessons from NAFTA for the Trans-Pacific Partnership <http://www.ips-dc.org/infographic-lessons-from-nafta-for-the-trans-pacific-partnership/>” (July 2, 2015), “The Moral Case Against the TPP <http://www.ips-dc.org/the-moral-case-against-the-tpp/>” (October 13, 2015), and “In the Keystone Suit, It’s Big Oil vs. Democracy <http://www.ips-dc.org/keystone-suit-big-oil-vs-democracy/>” (January 15, 2016).

 Experts Available:

John Cavanagh, Director
Janet Redman, Climate Policy Director
Manuel Perez-Rocha, Associate Fellow on Global Economy
Please contact Elaine de Leon at 202-787-5271 or elaine at ips-dc.org <mailto:elaine at ips-dc.org>.

http://www.iatp.org/documents/tpp-signing-represents-corporate-wish-list-farmers-consumers-and-the-environment-lose <http://www.iatp.org/documents/tpp-signing-represents-corporate-wish-list-farmers-consumers-and-the-environment-lose>

February 3, 2016

TPP signing represents corporate wish list; farmers, consumers and the environment lose
Opposition grows as trade deal faces uphill battle in Congress

Contacts: 
Karen Hansen-Kuhn, IATP, (202) 543-8602, khansenkuhn at iatp.org <mailto:khansenkuhn at iatp.org>
Ben Lilliston, IATP, (612) 741-8650, blilliston at iatp.org <mailto:blilliston at iatp.org>

MINNEAPOLIS/WASHINGTON D.C.– The controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was signed today in New Zealand, as opposition to the corporate-friendly deal continues to grow in the U.S. and other participating countries.  The agreement now has to go to national legislatures for ratification. The TPP has been broadly criticized for expanding the legal rights of foreign corporations to challenge national and local regulations. IATP has also criticized the TPP for its potentially adverse impacts on farmers and ranchers, consumer labeling, food safety regulations and other state and local policies supporting local food and energy systems.

“Multinational agribusiness companies want this deal—it provides them a framework to lower regulations and expand their market power in multiple countries,” said Karen Hansen-Kuhn, IATP’s Director of International Strategies. “The future of this TPP is very much in doubt. Legislators and civil society in all TPP countries are not fooled by false promises. In farming, as in manufacturing, these trade deals have cost jobs and increased corporate control over our economies. TPP will double down on existing problems, and there are new provisions, such as bans on seed saving and expanding market access for agricultural biotechnology, that could make things worse.”

The recent legal challenge brought by TransCanada seeking $15 billion in damages over the Obama Administration’s decision to reject the Keystone Pipeline, has raised new questions about the TPP. The suit was brought under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which grants corporations special rights to challenge U.S. laws and undermine climate policy. The TPP includes the same corporate rights provisions, and would allow an additional 9,000 foreign corporations to challenge U.S. laws. 

“The TransCanada case is a red flashing warning sign about whose interests these trade deals represent. These same corporate rights provisions have successfully challenged rural communities’ democratic rights to limit fracking and regulate mining,” said IATP’s Climate Director Ben Lilliston. “This deal is literally in climate denial—the words climate change are nowhere in the text. Yet the TPP supports an extractive, climate-damaging mode of globalization that has led to mass deforestation, fossil fuel withdrawal and an energy-intensive industrial model of agriculture.”

IATP has also raised concerns about how the TPP could reduce the food safety inspection capacity of food imports. “The TPP would open up the U.S. to a flood of seafood, dairy, fruit and vegetable imports at a time when Congress refuses to fund food safety inspection and the food industry refuses to pay for the regulatory services to expedite imports,” said IATP Senior Policy Analyst Steve Suppan.

Last year, Congress barely passed the controversial Fast Track legislation which prohibits members of Congress from amending the deal. Instead, they are limited to an up or down vote on what is considered the largest so-called “free trade” deal in history.

IATP has written several analyses and produced other resources outlining the implications of the TPP. More information available at:http://www.iatp.org/tradesecrets/ <http://www.iatp.org/tradesecrets/>.

###

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy works locally and globally at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm, and trade systems. www.iatp.org <http://www.iatp.org/>

http://maryknollogc.org/article/faith-groups-oppose-tpp-trade-agreement <http://maryknollogc.org/article/faith-groups-oppose-tpp-trade-agreement>
Faith communities oppose the TPP trade agreement

As trade ministers gather in Auckland, New Zealand to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, U.S. faith-based organizations expressed opposition to the agreement. The Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment has worked since 2000 to bring to the trade debate the experiences of people of faith in mission and in service with vulnerable communities around the world.  

Kathryn Johnson, policy impact coordinator with the American Friends Service Committee, said: “It's little wonder that the TPP is practically an investor wish list. Over 600 corporate advisors participated in the negotiations shaping the agreement to benefit themselves while the public was kept in the dark. This pact put corporations firmly in the driver’s seat shaping health, environmental and economic policies around the globe. It also allows investors to bypass a country’s judicial system to challenge environmental and public health laws.”

Scott Wright, director of the Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach, said: “Columban missionaries live and serve in six of the twelve countries participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).  We know from past experience that free trade agreements tend to favor the interests of transnational corporations over the needs of the poor and the environment. Based on this firsthand knowledge, we know the TPP is not in the best interests of the communities we serve. The global economy must work in service to the people, not threaten their human dignity or destroy our common home.”

Emily Wirzba, policy associate for Sustainable Energy and Environment of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, said: “The Friends Committee on National Legislation is committed to protecting ‘the world, and they that dwell therein’ (Psalm 24:1), so that every person’s potential may be fulfilled.  These aspirations are threatened by the TPP. The TPP weakens or excludes major environmental commitments that have been in all trade agreements since 2007, including efforts to protect whales, tuna, and other marine life. By expediting natural gas exports, the TPP will encourage the use of dirty fossil fuels which drive climate change. Climate change – the greatest environment challenge of our time, threatening the well-being and potential of present and future generations – is not even mentioned in the agreement. Finally, under the investor state dispute settlement provisions, the TPP threatens our democracy by enabling fossil fuel corporations to challenge national, state, and local laws which protect our public health and the environment, in international tribunals beyond U.S. jurisdiction, which have the power to make binding decisions upon our nation. The TPP falls far short of promoting a healthy and diverse environment, of addressing climate change, and of protecting our democracy, for the benefit of all people and our Earth.”  

Chloe Schwabe, director of the Faith Ecology Economy project of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, said: “Maryknoll missioners have witnessed the devastating impacts that trade agreements have had on the livelihoods of small farmers and rural economies in Central America and Mexico after the implementation of CAFTA and NAFTA. The TPP, which favors the large–scale industrial, agricultural model, will yet again hurt the livelihoods of small farmers and threaten their ability to feed their families their daily bread. Our faith calls us to ensure that the economy serves God's most vulnerable people – not the other way around.”

Susan Thompson, associate director of the Medical Mission Sisters Alliance for Justice, said: “The Medical Mission Sisters are a religious congregation of women dedicated to providing the poor of the world better access to health care. We work in 17 countries and we have seen first-hand that access to generic drugs has dramatically reduced the price of important medicines used to treat AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, for example. This reduced cost has substantially increased the number of patients who are able to receive treatment. Access to affordable, lifesaving medicines will be threatened where they are needed most – in parts of the developing world ? if the U.S. insists on implementing restrictive intellectual property policies in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. For millions of people throughout the world, delaying access to generic medications means delaying access to treatment.”

Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, director of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Office of Public Witness, said: “Any trade agreement that only focuses on increasing profits for international corporate interests while ignoring fundamental issues like human rights, environmental protection and access to affordable medication is immoral and shows a blatant disregard for human life. We must be a better nation by choosing trade policies that uplift humanity rather than endanger the lives of women, men, boys, and girls.”

Jean Stokan, director of the Institute Justice Team of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, said: “The deal threatens international labor standards and domestic industrial markets, pushing more people into forced migration and making them vulnerable to human trafficking.  Eradicating human trafficking is a chief concern for the Sisters of Mercy, and this trade deal undermines international efforts to end trafficking.”

Dr. Edith Rasell, minister for economic justice, of the United Church of Christ, said: “The TPP is quite similar to previous trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Like the earlier treaties, it will boost unemployment in the U.S. and worsen economic inequality in all the TPP countries – any economic gains will flow primarily to the wealthy. Congress must oppose this harmful agreement.”

Contacts for media:

Chloe Schwabe, Maryknoll Office for Global Concern,  Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment co-chair, cschwabe at maryknoll.org <mailto:cschwabe at maryknoll.org>, (202) 549-1696

Catherine Gordon, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment co-chair, catherine.gordon at pcusa.org <mailto:catherine.gordon at pcusa.org>, 202 543 1126

Paul Marchione (to contact Sister Simone Campbell), NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, pmarchione at networklobby.org <mailto:pmarchione at networklobby.org>, 202-601-7869

###
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 3, 2016
Contact: Andrew Jerome, 202-314-3106
ajerome at nfudc.org <mailto:ajerome at nfudc.org>
U.S. Farmers Urge Congress to Stop TPP

WASHINGTON (February 3, 2016) – The U.S. Trade Representative today signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and a national organization representing farmers and ranchers from coast to coast is calling on Congress to block the giant trade pact.

“TPP is modeled after the failed deals of the past, and it is destined to fail,” explained Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union.  “Those past deals worsened America’s trade deficit, did nothing to stop our foreign competitors from cheating the system, and failed to live up to a long list of promises.”

Once signed by the Administration, TPP will eventually be delivered to Congress for a debate and an up-or-down vote without amendments.  Johnson and NFU members in all 50 states are urging Congress to take its time during the examination process and to ultimately reject the deal.

“The more people learn about TPP, the more they dislike it,” Johnson noted.  “It’s soft on enforcement, it fails to reign in predatory trade practices abroad, and it does nothing to improve America’s trade balance.”

Johnson, who testified <http://www.nfu.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/01-12-15-Testimony-on-TPP-for-USITC.pdf> before the U.S. International Trade Commission last month, told government officials that TPP needs better mechanisms to hold trading partners accountable for promises made and should focus on improving the U.S. trade balance instead of simply reducing tariffs.

The U.S. trade deficit soared to $508 billion in 2014, up 6 percent from the previous year, despite trade deals with 20 countries, he testified.  And this trade imbalance, he explained, is a major hurdle to economic and job growth.

“TPP is a bad deal for rural and urban America alike,” Johnson said immediately after the pact was signed.  “We encourage all members of Congress to carefully read the text and ask the hard questions that have, thus far, gone unanswered.  Once they do, we believe legislators will vote no and demand better negotiations in the future.”
National Farmers Union has been working since 1902 to protect and enhance the economic well-being and quality of life for family farmers, ranchers and rural communities through advocating grassroots-driven policy positions adopted by its membership.

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