by
Mallory Morken @mallorymorken
In his State of the Union address, President Obama urged Congress to renew Trade Promotion Authority, often called “Fast Track,” to complete two controversial international trade deals currently under negotiation, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). In attempts to portray this urgency, the President warned of China’s rising power in the realm of trade and global economics, and China is “trying to write the rules,” which would “disadvantage” American workers and businesses. Obama said, “We should write those rules. We should level the playing field.” But who actually writes the rules of these trade deals?
In mid-January, the Trade Benefits America Coalition submitted a letter to Congress leadership, urging the passage of Trade Promotion Authority. The undersigned Coalition members include over 200 of the largest corporations and trade associations in the country, a sample of which include Walmart, Coca Cola, the notorious corporate-led, state-focused ALEC, and four of the “Big 6” pesticide and GMO corporations: BASF, Bayer, Dupont, and Dow Chemical Company. Not one of the Coalition members appear to represent workers, the environment, or public health - a glaring indication of who will benefit from Fast Track and the pending trade deals.
Of the 200+ undersigned Coalition groups promoting Fast Track, about 33 could be identified as agribusiness- or food-related. Just these 33 agribusiness groups alone spent nearly $170 million in lobbying in 2013-2014. (This is a fraction of the total lobby power of the 200+ groups urging Fast Track.) We’re talking about serious capital to ensure that their interests are seriously represented in the TPP and TTIP.
U.S. Trade Representative top official Michael Froman (a Citigroup alum) claims that Fast Track puts “Congress in the driver’s seat.” A perplexing declaration, since the reality is quite the opposite. Under Fast Track, the trade agreements are presented to Congress for an up or down vote, with little debate and no ability to amend. The years of negotiations for these deals have taken place behind closed doors. Congress and the public do not have full access to the text. Members of Congress can read the text in guarded reading rooms, but they can’t bring their staff or outside experts, can’t take notes, and can’t discuss specifics outside of the room. Meanwhile, nearly 600 corporate and Wall Street representatives have been intimately involved in the crafting of the bills the entire time. That doesn’t sound much like being in the driver’s seat.
Corporations and free trade evangelists are pushing for Fast Track now because the trade deals are so dense and controversial that granting our elected representatives (and the public) full access to the text will likely slow down the process, if not kill the agreements altogether.
The agribusiness companies pushing Fast Track have a record of opposing issues that American consumers overwhelmingly support in order to preserve their profit margins. These are the same companies that have spent $100 million since 2012 to fight the labeling of GMOs, the same companies that oppose Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), and same companies who benefit from cheap corn and soy and prolific use of neonics that are killing bees and other pollinators. These also happen to be a lot of the same companies that comprise the U.S.Trade Representative advisory committees, providing direct input into the crafting of the TPP and TTIP.
The agribusiness sector is positioned to significantly benefit from these mega trade deals through lower tariffs, lower food safety and labeling regulations, and the expansion of corporate rights to challenge regulations they don’t like. But agribusiness wealth does not trickle down to our local farms and consumers. For example, during the first 7 years of NAFTA, Archer Daniels Midland’s profits increased from $110 million to $301 million while ConAgra’s grew from $143 million to $413 million. During that same period of booming agribusiness wealth, 700,000 U.S. jobs were lost, U.S. exports grew at a slower pace (except corn), U.S. food imports rose 239 percent, and the price of food in the U.S. jumped 67 percent. Since NAFTA, U.S. farmers have experienced major shifts with more volatile market prices; fewer, larger farms; losses in mid-sized farms; and increased corporate concentration in all agricultural sectors. The deal was also bad for Mexico: two million farmers lost their livelihoods and were forced to migrate to the border or the U.S. in search of work. Despite the adverse effects seen by workers and farmers in both countries, NAFTA is the model for these new trade deals; the TPP has been labeled “NAFTA on steroids.” Uh-oh.
The Obama administration claims that the TPP will yield 650,000 new U.S. jobs, but the Washington Post’s Fact Checker labeled this projection a farce, based on faulty models. Similar promises of job gains from free trade deals have not delivered, as companies offshore to other countries with more lax labor and environmental standards in order to cut costs.
Communities all across the globe are protesting the deception and corruption inherent in these trade deals. Demonstrations in Mexico, Berlin, New Zealand, Japan,and Brussels, the European Citizens’ Initiative, and the recent protest at the Senate Finance Committee barely scratch the surface in representing the opposition.
When our elected representatives are not allowed to participate in the process, clearly the result will not be in our interests. Multinational corporations have been molding the deals in the interest of their bottom lines with disregard to the health of the planet, workers, and our food supply. In order to halt these trade deals, we need to first defeat Fast Track. And moving forward, to ensure Big Money does not continue to drown out the voices of the American people, we need to reform the way we do politics: to #GetMoneyOut and reclaim our democracy.
