TPP is About Protectionism

To the editor:

Those who favor the domination of multinational corporations claim that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which will be voted on soon, is about free trade. To the extent that there are some provisions about trade, the TPP is protectionist, quite the opposite of free trade.

TPP will protect multinational drug companies from competition by generics and smaller companies, and we will all pay much more. It extends patents and copyright protections extra decades, and we will all pay more for many products.

TPP is protectionist concerning food as well. Multinationals will have less (or zero) sanitation and safety standards. Country-of-origin food labeling will be considered “unfair” competition and the “violator” will be sued out of existence.

TPP will allow free trade within a giant company. They can buy slave-labor products from a subsidiary or tainted food from within the company more freely. Multinationals will have no restrictions on products that were illegal for good reason, such as pythons to Florida.
If we want to protect a certain river from being bottled by Nestle or a particular animal from extinction, the TPP will only allow us to beg the company, though we may not be able to find the post office box in Panama or the Bahamas. The multinationals will have world monopolies, and that has not happened since East India tea was thrown overboard in Boston Harbor.

World monopoly is a brand-new definition of “free trade.” The TPP is not yet law because the tally counters are afraid they don’t have the votes. Those who intend to switch following the election hope you will forget this crime before they have to run again.

Peter Holcomb
Bellingham

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