President Obama is negotiating two massive trade deals that will put our democracy, food safety, Internet freedoms and access to life-saving medicines in danger. Last night during the State of the Union, along with a slate of progressive ideas, he disturbingly called for a bill that would allow these deals to bypass Congress, forgoing Constitutionally-protected democratic oversight. World leaders are working alongside major corporations to pass these dangerous deals -- and they are refusing to tell us what’s inside the agreements. Leaks from the negotiations paint a terrible picture of what the world could be like if these deals pass: sky-high costs for life-saving cancer treatment, further devastation of the world’s poor, and the right for big corporations to sue governments in secret courts for billions -- just for passing laws that protect families, workers and the planet. With only 4 days to go until the last round of negotiations for one of the deals begins, we need to get access to these texts urgently so we can have an open debate about what promises our government is making about our future. Add your name the petition to global leaders to publish the secret draft texts of these trade deals now. Trade deals used to be about trade -- but now they’re being used as a tool to sneak major changes to our democratic laws and regulatory systems that benefit corporations while hurting us. The need to end the secrecy around trade negotiations is more urgent than ever. In 4 days leaders from 12 countries are gathering in New York for the last round of Trans-Pacific Partnership talks ever, to try and finalize this Trojan Horse of a deal -- and they’re hoping to ram the deal through by March. Leaders are also racing to finalize another deal, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), between the EU and United States. The TPP and TTIP would give corporations the right to sue our government for passing laws that threaten expected profits -- and taxpayers would be forced to pay the losses. And we don’t even know the half of it because the texts of these deals are under lock and key. It’s not unprecedented for countries to agree to release the text of a deal before it’s final -- its happened before. Just last week the EU Ombudsman called on the European Commission to publish more documents from the TTIP -- thanks in part to SumOfUs members who submitted comments. With momentum building, this is a key moment to call on our leaders for trade transparency. It only takes one country to agree to release the text of one of these agreements to push others to do the same. If enough of us come together now, we can force our leaders to stop negotiating in secret and release the texts once and for all. Can you sign the petition to global leaders to stop negotiating in secret and immediately publish the text of the TPP and TTIP agreements? Global opposition to the TPP and TTIP is growing to a fever pitch. SumOfUs members and allies have been instrumental in raising the profile on these secret trade deals. We’ve showed up outside talks across the world, held demonstrations, snuck inside hotels where negotiations were taking place to distribute flyers to sleeping negotiators, campaigned against elected officials, ran full-page ads in newspapers, and landed dozens of press stories. Obama is desperate to pass TPP by March to claim credit for the deal during his presidency. Lets make sure this dangerous deal is not part of that legacy. Thanks for all you do, Paul, Emma, Anne and the team at SumOfUs.org ********** Read more: U.S. senator says Pacific trade deal on two-month trajectory. Reuters. January 13, 2015. Parliament round-up: MEPs give mixed response to release of TTIP documents. The Parliament Magazine. 12 January 2015.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 00:07:36 +0000
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