Obama's unholy trinity of trade disasters

Economy in Crisis - For decades now, the United States has practiced failed “free trade” policies. The results are nothing short of disastrous, with skyrocketing unemployment and gargantuan budget and trade deficits. America has lost its manufacturing sector, once the pride of the nation. The scariest thing of all is that the worst may be yet to come.

NAFTA is usually cited as the quintessential “free trade” agreement. It tore open our borders and allowed unfair competition with labor rates below $4 an hour, something U.S. manufacturers can’t compete with. It turned over our sovereignty to unelected tribunals. It has initiated a race to the bottom, not just for wages, but for standards, too.

This is just the beginning of what President Obama wants to foist on the U.S. NAFTA includes only the large countries of North America. The TPP, TISA and TTIP combine as three “free trade” deals that will form a sort of “unholy trinity” of “free trade” deals.

The first is the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a secret deal between 12 countries of the Pacific region, including the U.S. This deal which was negotiated behind closed doors by lobbyists for multinational corporations, would surrender much of our sovereignty to make our own laws and enforce them. It will affect our standards and laws in regards to many issues including; the environment, food safety, financial regulation, Internet freedom, copyrights, and health care.

The second deal is also being negotiated in secret by lobbyists. This deal is called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. This deal involves the United States and the European Union. The threat of low wages from a European nation is reduced here, but the loss of sovereignty for the United States is a very real threat. Much of the concern being raised about the TPP has focused on the devastating lowering of food safety and financial regulation standards to meet the desires of multinational corporations.

Finally, there is the Trade in Services Agreement, which looks to tidy up gaps the other agreements may have left behind. This deal focuses specifically on services, and like the other agreements seems to be tightening the control of global governance. This one is not only under secret negotiations, but will remain Top Secret for five years after it is signed! What sort of trade deal needs to be secret even after it is signed and in effect? How does this even make sense? How can we be ruled by an agreement whose terms we don’t even know?