Jim Hightower, former Agricultural Commissioner of Texas and a very liberal guy, publishes a monthly newsletter to which I subscribe entitled “The Hightower Lowdown.” A few issues ago he railed against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an international 12-nation trade agreement pushed by the Obama administration.
Hightower’s main objection was that the agreement allowed foreign companies to challenge U.S. laws if those laws restricted trade. To take an extreme example, let’s say if a foreign corporation that produced cigarettes felt that anti-smoking laws were harming trade, it could sue to have those laws overturned.
Now, get this. A chapter in the draft of the trade deal dated Jan. 20, 2015, was obtained by Wikileaks. The cover of the chapter, which details the ability of companies to sue, was not to be declassified until four years after the Trans-Pacific Partnership comes into force.
The Obama administration downplays the possibility of corporate lawsuits. Elizabeth Warren begs to differ. On this one, I’m going with Jim Hightower and Elizabeth Warren. Scrap the Trans-Pacific partnership.
If you want to read the article in today’s Times detailing the potential problems with suits, go to <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/26/business/trans-pacific-partnership-seen-as-door-for-foreign-suits-against-us.html?src=me&_r=0>.
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