Local Pols Nix Trade Pact

By INEZ SHARABY & KARI FORDD

Various New York State government officials, including Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio and Republican Rep. Dan Donovan, declared their opposition Thursday to the Trans-Pacific Partnership and urged Congress to vote down the agreement.

De Blasio compared the agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement, which included the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and promised the same things, but, he said, resulted in the loss of about a million American jobs and a major growth in income inequality.

“We already saw what a disaster NAFTA was,” he said at a City Hall news conference. ‘We are not going to relive that mistake. Policies of our country must attack income inequality, not aide it. The TPP will simply make a bad situation worse.”

Donovan also expressed fears the pact would export many U.S. jobs to developing countries. “My criteria in deciding whether to support this deal is simple: will it cost American workers their jobs?” said Donovan, “The answer is yes. I cannot support a proposal that puts more blue collar jobs on the chopping block.”

Opponents of TPP also objected that the five-year lead-up to the pact was conducted “in secrecy”.

“TPP has lacked transparency from the beginning, which is why I voted against fast track,” said Congressman Eliot Engel, a member of the House of Foreign Affairs Committee. “Now that we have all seen how lopsided it is, I’m happy to stand in solidarity with my friends in labor and colleagues in government to say this is a bad deal that should be stopped.”

The officials contended they were not against fair trade with other nations, but said it should come at the expense of American jobs and wages.

“We should be focused on raising wages for hardworking Americans across New York State and this nation,” said Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. “It’s time workers finally enjoy the fruits of that labor. We don’t need free trade, we need fair trade.”

The TPP was signed in February by twelve countries in the Pacific rim: the U.S., Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru. If brought into fruition, it would further tie these nations together economically, resulting, say supporters, in dramatic cuts in tariffs, boosting and economic growth.

The value of international trade agreements figures prominently in current presidential races.

New York Congressional Representatives sent a bipartisan letter to President Obama in March outlining their opposition to the TPP and the New York City Council passed a resolution last April declaring the city a “TPP-free-zone”.