(Newswire.net — April 24, 2015) — The Trans Pacific Partnership is pro-US economy and workers, said President Barack Obama. The TPP has been a target of harsh criticism regarding its secrecy, and opponents stated that the partnership will destroy the US middle class and leave US workers without jobs, however, Obama said Tuesday the deal is “vital” for the middle class.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would be a boon to the US economy and workers, president Obama said to around 200 people at the Organizing for Action advocacy group. Obama compared criticism with opposing a NAFTA treaty, which didn’t destroy the US middle class, but made it even stronger. The White House issued an infographic comparing those two.
That’s not the trade agreement I’m passing,” Obama said, referring to the opponents objections. “You need to tell me what’s wrong with this trade agreement, not one that was passed 25 years ago.”
“When people say that this trade deal is bad for working families, they don’t know what they’re talking about,” Obama said. “I take that personally. My entire presidency has been about helping working families,” he said, emphasizing that “working folks” elected him twice, not the Chamber of Commerce”.
Supporters of the TPP say it will open up new markets for American products, however, opponents have raised concerns over a number of issues, including currency manipulation, environmental protections, internet privacy and more. Additionally, they say it will cost Americans jobs at home while only benefitting corporations.
Opponents argue that such a ‘pro-US-working class and pro-US-economy’ deal, if that is what it is, should be above all transparent and not wrapped in the mist of secrecy. If a deal is needed to help the US economy and citizens, why is this document being hidden from them? Transparent deals are the basis of democracy, democrats say, worrying that that the foundation of that democracy, which the US is built on, is now undermined amid the TPP controversy.
“I think if you could get my colleagues to be honest, on the Democratic side, with you ‒ and I think you can mostly ‒ they will say they’ve been talked to, approached, lobbied and maybe cajoled by more cabinet members on this issue than any issue since Barack Obama’s been president,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) told the Huffington Post.
“That’s just sad,” Brown said the administration should be spending more time pushing a higher minimum wage, strengthening regulations on Wall Street and expanding Medicare.