5 Ways the TPP Hurts U.S. Jobs and the Economy

The U.S. House of Representatives will soon be voting on whether to give President Obama Fast Track trade promotion authority (TPA) on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), and future trade agreements. Fast Track is similar to “executive order”: it is a way to rush decisions through Congress, without the normal debate & amendment processes.

I frequently hear from Republicans who are confused about the public’s growing opposition to TPA & TPP, because Republicans are supposed to be “pro-free trade”; or because their favorite candidate voted “yes” on Fast Track. 

I have an extensive background in the stock market; in Fortune 500 careers; and in GOP & Tea Party politics. I’ve been a winning campaign manager, a trainer of thousands of activists, and a delegate to dozens of Assemblies, including the 2008 Republican National Convention.  

As a well-informed businesswoman, I oppose the TPP because it will inevitably harm U.S. jobs and the economy.

1. Currency manipulation* is rampant among the TPP trading partners, especially Japan**.  Currency manipulation enhances profits for the offending countries, and destroys profits for the victimized companies. Lost profits translate to potential job layoffs.

2. The Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS)*** feature of the TPP gives foreign companies and state-owned enterprises an ability to sue the U.S. in world courts, bypassing the U.S. justice system, and trampling over U.S. sovereignty.

3. The WTO is forcing the U.S. to stop using country-of-origin labeling (C.O.O.L.)**** as it pertains to meat products, under NAFTA.  A more sweeping C.O.O.L.-ban is expected under the TPP, which likely extends to “Buy American” programs.  The C.O.O.L.-ban, combined with an influx of much lower-quality food and product imports — which has already been negotiated in the TPP — will put U.S. products at a severe disadvantage.  Consumers will naturally reach for the cheaper products, leaving the U.S. products to sit on store shelves.  This will lead to job layoffs, and U.S. companies going out of business.

4. The TPP allows for an influx of immigrants via work visas, similar to the South Korea trade agreement.  Millions of work visas are expected to be granted to the eleven foreign countries in the TPP, which will additionally displace U.S. workers.

5. Trade agreements consistently contribute to the export of U.S jobs, and the growth of the U.S. trade deficit.*

The TPP deserves serious Congressional debate — something which cannot take place if Fast Track TPA is approved. Please ask your Congresspeople to vote “no” on the Fast Track TPA bill.  Call the Capitol Switchboard now — 202-224-3121 — ask to be transferred to your Representative and tell them VOTE NO ON FAST TRACK! (Find your Representative here.)

Thank you!

 

 

Crista Huff

President

Goodfellow LLC

 

*       CRITICAL ALERT: TOP FIVE CONCERNS WITH TRADE PROMOTION AUTHORITY — Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), 05-04-15

• “Labor economist Clyde Prestowitz attributes 60% of the U.S.’ 5.7 million manufacturing jobs lost over the last decade to import-driven trade imbalances.”

         For Some, Global Trade Pacts Have Become Religion-Regardless of Terms or Results – Sen. Jeff Sessions, May 19, 2015

•  “We need to ask some tough questions about why the middle class is shrinking and why pay isn’t rising… Our trade competitors use currency manipulation, subsidies, and other actions to expand their exports to us. Their goal is, naturally, to seek full employment in their countries while exporting their unemployment to the United States.”

**       No Need for Haste on TPP Deal — Japan Times, 05-13-15

• “The talks are going forward without the Japanese public and lawmakers being given relevant information on what is being discussed or agreed upon.”

• “Japan, which joined the TPP talks in 2013, wants to maintain high tariffs on five categories of agricultural products — rice, wheat, beef and pork, dairy products and farm products used to produce sugar — to protect domestic growers.”

***      Where Progressive and Conservatives Agree on Trade: Current Investor-State Dispute Settlement model is bad for the United States – Roosevelt Institute Chief Economist & Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, May 18, 2015

            My Letter to the Editor to the Colorado Statesman – Crista Huff, 04-26-15

• “ISDS has the potential to turn Colorado cities and towns into Detroit-like wastelands after just one loss in global court. What happens when a $300 million judgment is levied against Denver County? If the money is not in the county’s bank account, what does the global court take? Our museums? Our parks? Our land?”

****     WTO Orders U.S. to Gut U.S. Consumer Country-of-Origin Meat Labeling Policy, Further Complicating Obama Fast Track Push  —  Public Citizen, May 18, 2015

• “In a May 1, 2015, letter, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack informed Congress that it will need to repeal the COOL law or else change it if the final WTO ruling were to go against the United States.”

• “The WTO decision is likely to further fuel opposition to Fast Track authority for controversial ‘trade’ pacts that would expose U.S. consumer and environmental protections to more such challenges. “