So we saw a shift in the way that commercial policy actually operated on a global level. And we started to monitor the rulings as well as the negotiations as they've progressed these past five years. It really has no accountability. Everyday citizens have no access to its meetings. They're not required to publish the minutes of the meetings of the different WTO committees.
Citizens have no access to the proceedings.
Environmental laws are being challenged by countries because they say it poses a barrier to their product. U.S. experts on clean air, never mind U.S. citizens, have no access to these proceedings whatsoever. So it has none of the due process guarantees that a typical proceeding in domestic U.S. courts would have. Yet, the WTO does have the power to impose sanctions to pressure the United States to change its laws, so it's completely unaccountable to domestic populations. What's at stake is citizens' own inability to influence the process and to have control over issues that affect their lives.