The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Amanda Kistler, Communications Manager, 202-742-5832, akistler@ciel.org

Fast-Tracked Trade Deals Rush Us Toward a Toxic Future

Today, Senators Hatch (R-Utah), Wyden (D-Ore.), and Ryan (R-Wis.) introduced the Trade Promotion Authority legislation (TPA-2015), which would extend "fast track" negotiating authority for trade deals, including the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). With fast-track, Congress would lose its ability to ensure that trade pacts benefit workers, the environment, and communities around the United States.

WASHINGTON

Today, Senators Hatch (R-Utah), Wyden (D-Ore.), and Ryan (R-Wis.) introduced the Trade Promotion Authority legislation (TPA-2015), which would extend "fast track" negotiating authority for trade deals, including the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). With fast-track, Congress would lose its ability to ensure that trade pacts benefit workers, the environment, and communities around the United States. Modern agreements like TTIP are not simply about trade; they are about regulation, with wide-ranging effects on environmental, health and safety standards designed to protect the public interest.

Carroll Muffett, President of the Center for International Environmental Law, issued the following statement on the introduction of the bill:

Trade agreements like the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the TransPacific Partnership, negotiated out of sight and with no meaningful public input, reflect the wish-lists of industry lobbyists, not the needs of the American people. Increasingly, these agreements deal less with inconsequential border taxes than with critical issues of public policy. Chemical safety, consumers and workers rights, and the power of federal and state governments to protect the public from hazardous substances and products all will be affected by the deals being negotiated. These deals would grant new rights to corporations and investors to undermine democracy and public policy in the name of private profit. Deals like TTIP and TPP demand public scrutiny and careful Congressional review. Fast track fails that standard and fails the American people.

Since 1989, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) has worked to strengthen and use international law and institutions to protect the environment, promote human health, and ensure a just and sustainable society.