The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is expected to bring a net, but marginal, boost to the economy, according to a new study by the U.S. International Trade Commission. We can expect a loss of manufacturing jobs, not a fact to take lightly, but the sector expected to tip the balance in favor of a boosted economy is food and agriculture.
Unfortunately, the high risk to public health and the environment that will accompany this boost cancels out any marginal benefit it may bring. It is not your local farmer with a small, diverse, sustainable farm that offers your summer CSA share who will benefit from the TPP. After NAFTA went into effect, U.S. farmers of most crops saw incomes plummet, and the U.S. drastically increased imports of cheap fruits and vegetables from Mexico, grown and harvested by farmworkers earning poverty wages and living and working in deplorable conditions.
The segment of the food and agriculture system that will benefit if the TPP is passed will be the large-scale industrial agriculture machine. The type of commodity cash crops that rely heavily on inputs such as genetically engineered seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides. These are the types of farms that are also contributing to climate change. Though estimates vary, agriculture contributes one-third to one-half of climate changing emissions.
We need our agriculture and trade policies to invest in the type of sustainable, regenerative agriculture that will capture carbon and mitigate climate change. To create a trade policy, such as the TPP, that will reward and expand climate-change-causing conventional agriculture and then claim that the expansion of a harmful segment of the agriculture system justifies the loss of good manufacturing jobs is unacceptable.
The TPP, which has already been finalized, will be a setback to a healthy and sustainable food and agriculture system. President Obama has committed to its passage and reports are that Congress will attempt to pass it during the “lame duck” session, after the elections but before a change in office. Because the TPP is so unpopular, the best chance of passing it is after the elections.
The first step in creating the food and agriculture system we want is to reject the TPP. To do that, we need to prevent a lame duck vote.
Please show up to vote no on TPP. At least show up; TPP will hurt the farmers (and the climate). Thank you!
The TPP is utterly ridiculous!!!
The TPP is very damaging to our country. Say NO to TPP
Stop the TPP!
If you won’t vote on SCOTUS you shouldn’t be voting on anything.
Please vote no on TPP; it is not good for the US and undermines our sovereignty, giving it to nongovernmentasl corporate sponsored tribunals.
Your Comments
Disgusting that this is being pushed through. I will take note of all who vote for it when it comes time for the next election.
NO TO THE TPPYour Comments
The TPP will devastate our economy and our sovereignty.
Vote no on the ttp!
No to the TPP
Stop TPP and TTIP and protect the people from bad product and bad companies.
When corporations and other wealthy interests are able to overrule sovereign representative governments through measures such as the ISDS, doesn’t it constitute Fascism?
Isn’t this what FDR warned us about in his 1944 State of the Union address?
The fact that the TPP is even receiving consideration is really, really scary.
I am writing to ask you to not make a lame duck vote on the TPP this year.
It obviously has environmental, ethical and financial aspects that need to be reworked in order to best serve your constituency.
The TPP must be stopped. It is only good for the rich corporate interests and their profits. Please did not support this awful trade deal.
Do not vote on TPP this year, or support it even after this year.
Please do not plan or hold a lame duck vote on the TPP. It is not good for our health or our environment. We all deserve better than that.
We need to invest in the small organic farmers.
Don’t you dare try to pass this corporate giveaway…we are watching you!
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is expected to bring a net, but marginal, boost to the economy, according to a new study by the U.S. International Trade Commission.
YouThe TPP is a bad deal for everyone on the planet. Fracking will continue to decimate countries and the environment, as usual, will suffer under the huge burden that Corporations will impart on small countries. This is wrong in every way!!!
Congress should not vote on the TPP during the “lame duck” session in 2016-2017
Your Comments The TPP was not negotiated with all the possibly affected parties. It therefore is flawed and slanted toward commerce rather than the common person.
The segment of the food and agriculture system that will benefit if the TPP is passed will be the large-scale industrial agriculture machine. The type of commodity cash crops that rely heavily on inputs such as genetically engineered seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides. These are the types of farms that are also contributing to climate change. Though estimates vary, large-scale agriculture contributes one-third to one-half of climate changing emissions.
Please, it’s time to stop TPP! NO Lame Duck vote!
The TPP is very bad news; please vote NO!
The TPP is not good for the country!
The blog text above does not say much about the very negative effects that the TPP will have on jobs, wages, employment, and so on, for the average worker and farmer in other countries, as well as the USA. Add those concerns to the list.