In St. Louis some are recognizing the need for a new economy where focus is put on black-owned businesses, cooperative businesses owned by workers and putting in place a solidarity economy. However, trade pacts will make it more difficult for local governments to put in place a new economy. Transnational corporations will be required to be given greater access to local markets. Practices like purchasing local or buying green will be seen as trade barriers and will be prevented.
The same is true for the climate justice movement. It will become impossible to ban extreme energy extraction in our communities because this will be a threat to corporate profits. The global corporate trade agreements are pushing for more fracked gas and off-shore oil. Europeans want the US to be exporting these climate-destroying fuels to lower their energy costs and diversify from their reliance on Russia to isolate it further.
We Can Win the First Big Challenge of 2015
President Obama and the Republican leadership in Congress have made it clear -- their top priority is passing fast track trade promotion authority early this year. Fast track is essentially Congress giving up its constitutional authority under the Commerce Clause "to regulate commerce with foreign nations." It gives almost all of their power to the president. Obama will be able to sign trade agreements without Congress ever seeing them, and then Congress has to quickly vote -- up or down, with no amendments -- on these agreements that contain thousands of pages of complex legal language. This is the only way that horrendous agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP, known as TAFTA) can become law.
When you see the first sentence above -- Obama and the Republican leadership making this a priority -- do not assume we cannot stop them. We can. There is widespread opposition in both the Senate and House against fast track. Democrats realize that these trade agreements will hurt their base.
And, Republicans, like Democrats, oppose fast track for several reasons. First, they know that it undermines their constitutional responsibility to regulate trade. Second, these agreements undermine the sovereignty of the US government as well as state and local governments by giving corporations veto power over laws they pass. Third, they recognize that these trade agreements do not confront a critical issue -- how countries manipulate the value of currency. Finally, Republicans do not trust President Obama with that much power, while they give up their power. More Democrats are agreeing with Republicans even on this issue as he continues to sell-out to corporations on issues like banking regulation and student debt.
The Congress is right not to trust the President on corporate trade agreements. Leaks have shown that the Obama administration is extremely pro-corporate when it comes to their proposals. Documents show the main reason why countries have been unable to reach agreement is because the administration's positions are distant from those of every other country who do not support such broad corporate power. Further, the leaks also show that enforcement of environmental protections is even weaker in these agreements than they were in Bush-era trade agreements.
All of the big Washington business lobbies are ready to push corporate trade. They see billions in profits as well as a swelling of their power. They know they will become more powerful than governments if these trade agreements become law.
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