TPP deal likely to be approved during lame-duck session after Nov. elections

AFL-CIO pres. says deal is massively opposed

It seems no matter what happens with the November elections, a new free trade deal will still get approved in Washington, D.C. 

Senate leaders says the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will likely pass in a lame duck session after the elections, much to the chagrin of people like La Crosse’s Bill Brockmiller, president of the Western Wisconsin AFL-CIO.

“It’s not because we’re anti-trade,” Brockmiller said. “It’s because we want trade to be done fairly and on equal footing.”

And, that level of fairness is something that’s sorely lacking, says Brockmiller, with this particular free trade deal.  

Many of the provisions of TPP that are said to benefit the U.S. are meaningless, Brockmiller said. Like the bit about shark fins.

“After the trade agreement is approved – if it’s approved – we’ll be able to import shark fins to Vietnam without tariff,” Brockmiller said.

The move will also prove highly unpopular with labor unions, Brockmiller pointed out. But not just labor.

“It is massively opposed,” he said. “Hundreds of human rights groups. Hundreds, if not thousands of environmental groups (oppose TPP). Groups like the ACLU oppose it based on the fact that we’re now giving foreign tribunals rights to rule over American companies.”

Brockmiller can’t find much redeeming about the deal.

“They call it a trade agreement but that’s really false advertising,” he said.

The only thing apparently holding up TPP approval now is a provision that shortens the time for lucrative U.S. drug patent protections.