The Free-Trade Consensus Is Dead

Like most modern trade deals, TTIP has less to do with tariffs than with so-called “non-tariff trade barriers,” a euphemism for ordinary health, safety, environmental, and financial regulations that corporations want to weaken both at home and abroad. In democratic societies, the people usually decide the balance between protecting the public and satisfying commerce. But…

Clinton Signals Opposition To Lame-Duck TPP Vote

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton signaled opposition to holding a lame-duck vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership in a candidate questionnaire released today by an anti-TPP activist group. [Daily News| May 6, 2016 |Inside US Trade] “I have said I oppose the TPP agreement – and that means before and after the election,” Clinton said in response to…

The problem with trade agreements

President Obama wrote an op-ed earlier this week in favor of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It was published in the Washington Post.  The paper accepted and published, today, Michael Stumo’s letter in response. In his May 3 op-ed, “America, not China, should call the shots on trade,” President Obama made an eloquent case for the Trans-Pacific…

Was I Vindicated About Donald Trump or What?

I’m obviously not about to endorse the guy (here’s where I said nice things about polar opposite Bernie Sanders) but please forgive me crowing for a minute about being vindicated (though I can’t claim to be always right) concerning Donald Trump’s seriousness and viability as a Republican candidate. [Ian Fletcher| May 5, 2016 |Huffington Post] In September 2015 — oh…

Obama and the true nature of the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Republican front-runner Donald Trump‘s warning against the “false song of globalism” strikes a sharply different note than President Obama did in his recent performance in London. [Curtis Ellis| May 2, 2016 |The Hill] Obama has provided further evidence that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) more closely resembles a scheme for international governance like the European Union rather…

The TTIP and TPP trade deals: enough of the secrecy

It’s amazing how just a little transparency forced onto the free trade deals the Obama administration been negotiating in secret totally turns the public against them. [Trevor Timm| May 4, 2016 |The Guardian] After the contents of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the US and the European Union was leaked and published by Greenpeace a…