[CTC] Fwd: BREAKING: Sen. Cantwell Challenges Trump Nominee to Rethink Trade

[Gillian Locascio]

Fair Trade Advocates,



*I wanted to make sure you saw these surprising comments Sen Cantwell made
during the confirmation hearing of Lighthizer for USTR last week.*She
criticized the TPP and similar deals (TTIP, TiSA) as serving to enrich
corporate multinational issues while hurting the environment and working
families, and asked Lighthizer whether he would, if selected, would cease
negotiations on these deals.

This is the first statement she has made to this effect.

Please help us spread the word -- Share on twitter and facebook!

Sample Tweet #1: “@SenatorCantwell Thank you for acknowledging that the
TPP, TiSA, TTIP and China BIT put corporations ahead of WA families
#FairTradeFirst"

Sample Tweet #2: Wow! @SenatorCantwell asked USTR pick Lighthizer if he
would stop corporate deals like TTIP & TiSA if confirmed. Thank you!
#FairTradeFirst

Our press release, with quotes from the confirmation hearing, is included
below.

thank you!

Best,
Gillian Locascio
Washington Fair Trade Coalition | 206.227.3079 <%28206%29%20227-3079>
www.washingtonfairtrade.org | @WaFairTrade


Press release link: http://washingtonfairtrade.org/?p=5559

*Senator Cantwell Challenges Trump Nominee to Rethink Our Approach to Trade*



Seattle, Wash. — The Washington Fair Trade Coalition (WFTC) today praised
Senator Maria Cantwell for challenging Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S.
Trade Representative (USTR) to promote a more just and sustainable global
economy.



“Voters in Washington and beyond are demanding trade policies that respect
workers, families, and healthy communities” said WFTC Director Gillian
Locascio.  “We appreciate Senator Cantwell’s leadership in hearings on
Donald Trump’s trade nominee on this issue.”



Senator Cantwell asked of USTR nominee Robert Lighthizer:



•    There are several trade negotiations underway that follow the same
flawed model of the now defunct TPP. These include the Trade in Services
Agreement, or TISA, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or
TTIP, and the US China Bilateral Investment Treaty. Each of these
agreements would serve to enrich multinational corporations at the expense
of working people and the environment.  If confirmed as USTR, would you
commit to cease negotiations on each of these three corporate trade
agreements?

•    Not only is our trade negotiation process dominated by corporations,
but proposals for trade deals and negotiated texts are kept hidden from the
public. The proposals and negotiated texts for the TPP, for example, were
kept secret for over seven years of negotiations. This forced labor unions,
public health groups, environmental organizations, and the public to rely
on leaked texts in order to have an idea of the trade rules under
negotiation. Would you support having all proposals and negotiated texts
published online in a timely fashion so the workers and the broader public
that will be impacted by these agreements have a full understanding of what
is being negotiated?

•    NAFTA’s investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system has empowered
multinational corporations like ExxonMobil to bypass domestic courts, turn
to private tribunals, and demand taxpayer compensation for policies that
affect the value of their investment. The policies that they have
challenged include bans on toxic chemicals, court rulings that support
access to affordable medicines, and protections for our climate.
Corporations have used NAFTA’s investment rules to extract more than $370
million from governments in such cases. Pending NAFTA claims total more
than $35 billion.  If confirmed as USTR, would you eliminate broad
investment rules and the investor-state dispute settlement system from
NAFTA? Yes or No.

•    NAFTA's weak and unenforceable environmental and labor side agreements
facilitated the offshoring of jobs so that corporations could exploit lower
environmental and labor standards in another country. If confirmed as USTR,
would you renegotiate NAFTA to require each participating country to adopt,
maintain, and implement policies to fulfill important international
environmental and labor agreements, including the Paris climate agreement
and core ILO conventions? Yes or No.

“Mr. Lighthizer was disappointingly vague in his responses to these and
other questions,” said Locascio. “It is long past time for new trade
policies that benefit, rather than harm, the economy, environment and
public health.”



WFTC is a coalition of labor, environmental, family farm and human rights
organizations working together to improve international trade policy.



###
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.citizenstrade.org/pipermail/ctcfield-citizenstrade.org/attachments/20170321/7c57db63/attachment.htm>