More than 160 food, farm, faith and rural organizations have sent a letter to Capitol Hill, urging lawmakers to reject the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The letter begins:
The undersigned 161 farm, food, rural and faith groups urge you to reject the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement. Independent family farmers and ranchers will see little benefit from the purported export gains from the TPP. At the same time, TPP imports will compete against U.S. farmers that are facing declining farmgate prices that are projected to stay low for years. The main beneficiaries of the TPP are the companies that buy, process and ship raw agricultural commodities, not the farmers who face real risks from rising import competition.
Giant American agricultural conglomerates will benefit because TPP lets them go to other countries and dominate the small farmers and suppliers there. By the same token, giant non-American ag conglomerates can come here and wipe out smaller farming concerns and suppliers here. (Remember how NAFTA wiped out smaller Mexican farmers, forcing a mass migration northward?)
Please click through and look at the long, long list of concerned groups signing this letter.
Meanwhile Pride At Work has sent out an alert about the human rights dangers of TPP, saying:
"A recent raid on a fundraiser organized by Malaysian transgender activists has once again put the country's abuses of LGBTQ human rights under the spotlight. As the U.S. Congress contemplates passage of the massive and destructive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement that includes Malaysia, that country continues to demonstrate why it should not be given preferential trade status with any country that believes in basic human rights."
