Fast Track Is Unconstitutional and Should Be Rejected
Channel: Economy In Crisis
Date: 2014-05-01

President Obama is attempting to push through the largest trade deal in human history. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, will set new rules, which we know very little about, regulating the economies of 12 countries including the United States, Japan, Canada and Australia. The United States has negotiated the TPP almost entirely in secret with the assistance of 600 paid lobbyists, of which 500 are corporate advisers. Most of what we know about the TPP has been through internet leaks. Basically, by the use of "free trade" agreements our leaders and Congress are handing over our nation's wealth to foreign countries like China, but also to multinational corporations.

The TPP will have its share of new regulations and new rules that will negatively impact us, such as:

   - the Internet
   - food safety
   - access to medicines
   - climate change policy
   - workers' rights
   - financial regulation
   - service-sector regulation
   - labor and environmental standards
   - investments
   - government procurement
   - patents and copyrights
   - trade in industrial goods and agriculture

These new regulations are a big deal. They would affect prices, businesses and people here in America. Yet the administration isn't being transparent about the negotiating process with members of Congress, who should be reviewing international trade agreements. 

Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress is supposed to write the laws and set trade policy. The president has the Constitutional authority to make treaties, but Congress is to have a strong hand in trade negotiations. However, using the Fast Track mechanism, the president can seize those Congressional powers and unilaterally select partner countries for "trade pacts" before Congress can even vote on the matter.