DeLauro Statement on TPP Agreement

Statement

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) released the following statement today on the announcement that an agreement has been reached on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). She will hold a press call with other Members of Congress today, October 5 at 11:15 a.m. to discuss their opposition to the deal. Reporters can join the call at: 800-875-3456 (US), 800-648-0973 (Canada), 302-607-2001 (other international), with passcode OTTE18828.

"I am deeply concerned at the news from Atlanta that the United States and 11 other countries have reached an agreement on the TPP. Our experience with these so-called free trade agreements over the past two decades has taught us that this will cost U.S. jobs and reduce wages.

"I, and my congressional colleagues on both sides of the aisle, have called on the Administration to end the secrecy that has shrouded this massive deal from the beginning and show this backroom deal to the Members of Congress they are asking to vote on it. These negotiations have taken place under unprecedented secrecy. But everything we know about the agreement suggests it will be yet another disaster for hard working American families.

"This deal will lead to job loss and depressed wages. There are no enforceable provisions prohibiting one of the worst economic abuses of our time, currency manipulation, which is directly tied to job loss in the United States. The TPP will force American workers into competition with cheap third world labor in places like Vietnam, where independent unions are banned and the minimum wage is 56 cents an hour.

"From what I have been allowed to read of the agreement, and from my correspondence with the Administration, I remain concerned that this agreement will limit our ability to protect consumers from dangerous seafood from countries like Vietnam and Malaysia. And it is a giveaway to Big Pharma, which wants to lock cheaper generics out of the market for eight years. This will result in more expensive medicines, as well as slower progress toward medical breakthroughs.

"The Administration will claim this agreement is a foreign policy triumph, but nothing could be further from the truth. The TPP has no enforceable labor, environmental, or human rights provisions. By making this deal, we are rewarding human trafficking in Malaysia, violence against LGBT people in Brunei, environmental degradation in Peru, and the further shipping of American jobs overseas to the very countries that do not play by the rules.

"When Americans finally see this agreement, they will know what I have been fighting against for so long. They will see exactly what this means for their jobs, their wages and the health of their families. I will continue to do everything possible to ensure that it does not become a reality."

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