The Davis City Council approved a resolution Tuesday evening calling on federal elected officials to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership and any similar trade deals.

The resolution was approved on a 4-1 vote, with Councilwoman Rochelle Swanson dissenting.

The controversial trade deal would lower trade restrictions between the United States and 11 other nations in the Pacific. The deal is being pushed by President Barack Obama as a huge boost for the economy, and awaits ratification by Congress.

Davis joins almost 200 cities across the nation in opposing the trade deal. California cities including San Francisco, Berkeley, Richmond, and Los Angeles have passed anti-TPP resolutions as well as Seattle and New York City.

“Trade deals such as the TPP are written by mega-corporations and put profits before people and the environment,” said Nick Buxton, a Davis resident and one of the resolution’s sponsors. The resolution was proposed locally by the Yolano Sierra Club and Yolo MoveOn.

“(The TPP) will lead to the loss of more jobs in the U.S., undermine environmental regulations, exacerbate climate change and increase corporate power at the expense of human rights and democracy,” Buxton said.

The adopted resolution outlines concerns that the TPP could contribute to job loss and lowered wages, allow special legal rights for foreign investors, and increase prices within the pharmaceutical industry.

Meanwhile, the local business community immediately voiced concerns about the impact the anti-TPP resolution could have on Yolo County’s valuable seed industry and local business partnerships with UC Davis.

“Our concern is that we do have local businesses, such as UC Davis, that (the TPP) could directly affect,” said Christina Blackman, CEO of the Davis Chamber of Commerce.

UCD has prominent connections to the region’s seed companies, some of which do business with nations that would be subject to the TPP, Blackman said.

The Chamber board has since written a letter to the council, urging it to reconsider the resolution and to open up the subject for a wider community dialogue.

When the council weighed in on the issue Tuesday, it changed the resolution’s original wording that would have designated Davis as a “TPP-free zone.” Instead, the resolution opposes the TPP in concept, and asks federal elected officials to vote against the trade deal.

The council has taken a stance on trade deals and international issues in the past. In 1999, the council unanimously adopted a resolution opposing the World Trade Organization.

— Reach Felicia Alvarez at [email protected] or 530-747-8052. Follow her on Twitter at @Felicia_A_