TPP Update

In a strongly worded letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) this week, a diverse coalition of more than 550 groups firmly rejected the fast-track model of trade promotion authority and called for more public scrutiny of trade deals.

The coalition told Wyden, who is Senate Finance Committee Chairman, that fast track is an outdated mechanism that would limit Congressional and public oversight over trade negotiations. It is "simply not appropriate" given the broad subjects covered by today's trade deals like the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

"By any name, the flawed 'fast track' approach still would enable negotiators to bypass Congress and put in place new and binding agreements that have real consequences for all of us. We need 21st-century trade authority that allows Congress to do its job and represent the interests of U.S. workers, consumers and communities." CWA President Larry Cohen said.

"A new model of trade authority is the only way to ensure that workers and communities have a voice in these trade decisions. We want to determine what kind of economy we have, not simply accept super-power status for multinational corporations and a snail's pace for the enforcement issues raised by the rest of us," he added.

Wyden is drafting a new trade authority bill, and the coalition stressed that a new model of trade authority is necessary, one that includes a Congressional role in selecting trade partners, a set of mandatory negotiating objectives, enhanced transparency, Congressional certification that negotiating objectives have been met before trade negotiations can conclude, and others.

The coalition includes CWA, the AFL-CIO and other unions, Democracy Initiative partners Sierra Club, Greenpeace and NAACP, Public Citizen, and other community and advocacy groups.