Sanders: TPP Trade Deal a 'Disaster'

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today he will oppose a major global trade deal that would lead to fewer jobs and lower pay for workers in the United States.

Sanders said he would work with organized labor, environmental groups and other opponents of a 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership that the White House hopes to rush through Congress in the coming year. He issued a statement citing 10 reasons to oppose the agreement.

"The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a disastrous trade agreement designed to protect the interests of the largest multi-national corporations at the expense of workers, consumers, the environment and the foundations of American democracy. It will also negatively impact some of the poorest people in the world," Sanders said.

The treaty, which is expected to come before Congress in 2015, was written in secret with the help of Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry and major media companies. The American public and members of Congress, however, were locked out of the process.

The proposed agreement builds on similar ones such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Central America Free Trade Agreement and Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China. "These treaties have forced American workers to compete against desperate and low-wage labor around the world. The result has been massive job losses in the United States and the shutting down of tens of thousands of factories.

"The TPP is more of the same, but even worse," Sanders added. "It is part of a global race to the bottom to boost the profits of large corporations and Wall Street by outsourcing jobs; undercutting worker rights; dismantling labor, environmental, health, food safety and financial laws; and allowing corporations to challenge our laws in international tribunals rather than our own court system.

"If TPP was such a good deal for America, the administration should have the courage to show the American people exactly what is in this deal, instead of keeping the content a secret," Sanders said.

To read the senator's full statement, click here.