Minnesota Activists to Protest Trans-Pacific Partnership

Minneapolis, MN – Hundreds of labor, fair trade, environmental and community activists will march through downtown Minneapolis on Tuesday, Aug. 20, to protest the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a secretive trade deal that threatens to worsen a global race to the bottom for wages, consumer safety, health care and environmental standards.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed deal between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations, is poised to become the largest trade agreement in U.S. history. It could have wide-reaching influence on the quality of life of everyday Americans, yet the only people at the negotiating table are corporate lobbyists and government negotiators, not groups concerned about workers, public health, free speech, the environment and consumer protections. Leaked documents show that these self-interested envoys are granting unwarranted political powers to multinational corporations, restricting lifesaving medicines, expanding restrictive intellectual property laws and more.

Protestors will be demanding fair trade, not “free trade.” And they’ll be putting pressure on the corporate “trade advisors” that will be shaping the agreement during the upcoming round of talks in Brunei.

WHAT: Fair Trade March and Rally

WHEN: Tuesday, August 20, 2013 at 12 p.m.

WHERE: Starting at the corner of 7th Street and Nicollet Avenue in downtown Minneapolis

WHO: CWA President Larry Cohen, CWA Council President Mona Meyer, Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition Director Josh Wise, TakeAction Minnesota Executive Director Dan McGrath and other coalition allies.