Ethan Burlingham

Professor A. Palumbo
WRD 111
May 29, 2016
C2:Debates Overview
Throughout the eight years that President Obama has been in
office over twenty thousand pieces of legislation have been passed.
One of those pieces of legislation passed was the Trans Pacific
Partnership. A free trade agreement between the United States,
Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand,
Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam with a whopping 29 chapters. The TransPacific Partnership, or TPP for short, has been highly criticized by many
economists and citizens of some of the Pacific Rim countries such as
Malaysia and Vietnam for being pro corporate. The deal was negotiated
and debated behind closed doors for almost seven years before finally
being signed into action in February of 2016. The agreement wasnt
made public until September of 2015. A mere 6 years after the bulk of
negotiations had taken place. But many groups are coming together
around the world to stop the disastrous agreement. The Trans Pacific
Partnership has caused some controversy in the World. From losing
jobs overseas to increased drug prices and unsafe food conditions to
the gutting of Buy American these are just a few facets of the lengthy
agreement.

Id like to start by talking about food conditions. This is one of the

parts of the agreement that has been most talked about. Under
sanction of the Trans Pacific Partnership countries with food regulations
and safety conditions similar to ours would automatically be imported
without any further inspections. So instead of our own governmental
agencies checking to ensure that our meat and poultry that we are
importing is safe, they are allowing other countries to preform
inspections so long as they claim their food safety regulations are
equivalent to that of ours. Also, with the recent trend in non-GMO foods
the Trans Pacific Partnership doesnt help get help solve the problem.
The labeling of products imported into the United States will not have
to produce certain facts on them such as if they contain GMO or the
origin of products. Up until now the agreement has not been disclosed
to the public, and to many people they dont feel that our food safety is
something to be discussed behind closed doors. So, Senator Elizabeth
Warren had insisted the Obama Administration put an end to the
closed-door debates and allow for public access to the documents. It
was only fair to make the agreement available to the American people
or it would have been in total violation of the constitution. As Billy
Mason stated, Thus, the TPP is not really a free-trade agreement but
rather an investors rights agreement that intends to bypass national
laws to ensure corporate profits at the expense of human health and

freedom. It is quite obvious to many that the agreement is very procorporate, but yet no one wants to question it.
The next portion of the Trans Pacific Partnership I would like to
cover is job off shoring. Ever since the financial crisis in 2008 jobs have
been a major topic of debate for both Democratic and Republican
Parties. While the economy has improved drastically since 2008 the
TPP might undo some of that progress. An estimated five hundred
thousand jobs are projected to be lost overseas for smaller wages
according to Tufts University Global Development and Environment
Institute. Its hard to compete with countries like Vietnam who would
offer to do work for 56 cents per hour, rather than the federal
minimum wage of $7.25. They have also said that countries will focus
more on the exportation of goods to other countries, rather than the
use of resources for their country. It is common for countries who focus
on exporting goods to lose jobs overall. Between the twelve countries
that signed the agreement, the Tufts University study estimates a total
of 771,000 jobs will be lost within ten years of signing the agreement.
Many other researchers have found the opposite and believe jobs may
increase and GDP will increase as well. However, the researchers at
Tufts University dont believe that to be the case. They said that other
researchers are to focused on just foreign trade, but have overlooked
the changes in labor force in these countries. With the loss of jobs
many also believe that will cause the income inequality gap to become

increasingly larger, and with income inequality becoming a more

relevant issue in todays society this could the agreement could cause
more harm than good. Someone who we have seen recently in the
presidential race has been against the TPP from the get go, and you
guessed it that person is Bernie Sanders. In a message to the people
from Bernie Sanders he states, The TPP is a treaty that has been
written behind closed doors by the corporate world. Incredibly, while
Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry and major media companies
have full knowledge as to what is in this treaty, the American people
and members of Congress do not. They have been locked out of the
process. Lets be clear: the TPP is much more than a free trade
agreement. 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 of the TPP a secret. For someone of
such high authority in our government to be saying something like this,
should we not be worried?
Another chapter of the agreement as mention by Bernie Sanders
above that has been quite controversial are increased drug prices from

pharmaceutical companies. The agreement allows these large

pharmaceutical companies to extend their patents and create even
higher drug prices for life saving cures. Even after the term of the
patent has expired they still have the ability to remain a monopoly in
developing countries. They would be able to postpone the launch of a
new drug or product in places with lower prices like the United States.
It would also give them ability to limit access to generic drugs
purchased by everyday consumers. On the Doctors without borders
site they have started a campaign calling on people to write a letter to
President Obama in hopes of lowering the price on the drugs. The last
message to readers of the Doctors Without Borders site informed
readers, Damaging intellectual property rules in the U.S.-led TransPacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) would give pharmaceutical
companies longer monopolies over brand name drugs. Companies
would be able to charge high prices for longer periods of time. And it
would be much harder for generic companies to produce cheaper
drugs that are vital to peoples health. If harmful provisions in the U.S.
proposals for the TPP agreement are not removed before it is too late,
this trade deal will have a real cost in human lives. These large
companies are trying to argue that they are not being paid the fair
price for their product due to all the research and facilities they
provide. But over the last decade drug prices have done nothing but
increase. The agreement also forms new regulations that could

challenge how our government is fighting to lower drug prices.

Specifically government funded health programs such as Medicare
would be subject to attack by the pharmaceutical companies making
costs more expensive for elders. Lastly, pharmaceutical companies
would not be required to make data available to consumers for several
years after a drug has been released. Making it harder for other
companies to create a cheaper version and therefore extending the
time they could remain a monopoly in developing countries.
Along with the loss of jobs there is another side of the Trans
Pacific Partnership that will create even more instability in American
jobs, the Buy American Act a policy supported by eighty percent of
Americans Republican and Democratic. The Buy American Act had
been in place since 1933, and ensured that any the government
prefers U.S. made products in its purchases. Now with the Trans Pacific
Partnership that is no longer the case. In a letter to President Obama
from the members of Congress highlighted this problem by saying, We
have seen that Buy American requirements have had a strong impact
in creating good middle class jobs here in the United States...Any
prospective TPP agreement must not provide firms operating in the
other TPP nations national treatment access to U.S. government
procurement, since doing so would undermine the standards that
Congress has set to support a strong domestic manufacturing sector.
Before the TPP United States tax dollars were being put back into

American jobs, but now the billions of U.S. tax dollars are being spent
to create jobs in and strengthen other countries. When members of
congress first heard of this close to 70 House and Senate members
opposed the idea of waiving Buy America. But rather than listen to the
members of congress the executive branch of negotiators continued to
implement the plan into the agreement. Some supporters of the
agreement believe this would be good for the United States because it
would allow U.S. firms the ability to bid on procurement contracts in
other countries that signed the agreement at the same rate. But others
believe that is ludicrous to be spending our own tax dollars to create
jobs in other countries.
As you can see there are many parts of the Trans Pacific
Partnership that seem to be working against the American people.
Offshoring jobs and tax dollars to boost profits by gutting policies that
have been around for decades. Leaving people with stacking medical
expenses due to increased drug prices. Creating unsafe conditions for
food and threatening the well being of people in the United States.
People against the Trans Pacific Partnership are growing everyday and
you can see why. For something so big and influencial to the American
people to be negotiated on in such secrecy makes you wonder how
much of this is for the people or for the 1 percent. And as I said before
these are just a few of the many parts to the agreement there is much
more to cover through the 29 chapters. So I would encourage you to

read through it yourself and try your best to educate yourself on some
of todays growing problems in our nation and others around us. And
hopefully people will start to pay attention to the legislation being
passed right under our noses and take a stand for what is right. But
until then all people can do is try their best to fight for the right cause.

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Lewis, Meredith Kolsky, The Trans-Pacific Partnership: New Paradigm
or Wolf in
Sheeps Clothing? 11 August 2011. Boston College International
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Property,
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AGREEMENT MUST BE DEFEATED sanders.senate.gov. Web. 28
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