Tell Congress, 'No Lame Duck Pacific Trade Deal!'

by Robert Romano: This year, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement is likely to be considered during a lame duck session of Congress, after the general election when lawmakers will no longer be held accountable by voters.

The text of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) clocks in at just over 2,000 pages. It includes thirty chapters, many loaded with the same corporate handouts and regulatory overreaches that littered NAFTA's 2,000-plus pages.

America's economy cannot afford another "rigged trade" deal. Since 2000, when permanent normal trade relations with China was granted, our nation's annual gross domestic product hasn't eclipsed four percent. Since 2005, it hasn't grown by more than three percent. The U.S. market share of manufacturing exports worldwide as a percent of worldwide exported manufactures peaked in 1999 at 13.48 percent, and has been declining ever since, according to data compiled by the World Bank. By 2014, it was down to 7.45 percent.

As a result, labor participation for 16-64 year olds has collapsed, from more than a 77 percent rate in the late 1990s to just 72.6 percent in 2015, representing more than 10 million people who have either left the labor force or never entered on a net basis.

You know what to do. Let's head over to stopbadtradedeals.org and act now by telling Congress an emphatic "No!" to any lame duck TPP! There is simply too much at stake.

It would be a slap in the face of voters if the Republican-controlled Congress were to ship millions of more jobs overseas by adopting TPP in a lame duck session of Congress after the election.
----------------
Robert Romano is the Senior Editor of Americans for Limited Government. His article was first shared on the ALG's NetRight Daily blog.

---

Tags: Robert Romano, Americans For Limited Government, Tell Congressw, no, lame duck, trade agreement, Trans Pacific Partnership, TPP To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!