Pacific trade pact: Victory for Wall Street but worry for labor unions?
Politics
Pacific trade pact: Victory for Wall Street but worry for labor unions?
An ambitious trade pact involving the United States and 11 other nations is a major victory for President Obama, but has the potential to create a rift among Democrats and cause friction with a key base of their political support — the nation’s labor unions. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), aimed at liberalizing commerce across nations accounting for 40 percent of the world’s economy, was signed late on Monday after five difficult years of talks, though it still needs ratification by each country.
Wall Street and big corporations just won a big victory. Now it’s on us to stop the #TPP from becoming law.
Democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders
It will be weeks before the full scope of the agreement announced Monday is known, but several labor groups are worried that it will result in American jobs being sent to counties with lower wages and less stringent labor standards. The president has to wait 90 days before signing the pact, and only then will Congress begin the process of voting on it. Approval of the deal would give Obama a legacy-defining victory.
When more than 95 percent of our potential customers live outside our borders, we can’t let countries like China write the rules of the global economy.
President Obama
