As Desperation Over TPP Grows, So Does Obama’s Dishonesty

Above photo: TPP protest outside the White House in September 2013. By Flush the TPP.

NOTE: It is remarkable to see the blatant misinformation put forth by President Obama as he sees the time clock ticking on his final term in office and the lack of Congressional support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Over the years, we’ve worked to expose the truth about the TPP when the Obama Administration lied about it. Even the Washington Post once gave the Obama Administration four “Pinocchio Noses” for its claim about the TPP creating jobs. But we have not seen so many lies in one speech. Despite the recent US International Trade Commission’s economic impact statement, which showed that the TPP would bring a tiny 0.2% increase to the GDP by 2032, increase the trade deficit by $22 billion and harm 16 out of 25 industrial sectors, the Obama Administration continues to claim that the TPP will benefit the economy. Despite the fact that the worker and environmental protections in the TPP are vague and unenforceable, and are actually weaker than past trade agreements, Obama continues to claim they exist. And now Obama sounds like Bush when he basically says, “Either you’re with us or against us.” China and other BRICS countries are challenging US hegemony, but the US does not have to respond with fear mongering and aggression. The US already conducts trade with China and most of the countries in the TPP. The administration and its allies in the US Chamber of Commerce will continue to try to raise support for the TPP so they can push it through the lame duck session of Congress this fall. We need to build our resistance throughout the summer. Use this new tool at FighttheTPP.org to contact your members of Congress and tell them not to vote on the controversial TPP during the lame duck. And click here to sign up for the No Lame Duck Uprising. – Margaret Flowers

Obama urges TPP passage, takes swipe at Trump on trade

President Obama on Wednesday pushed for passage of a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade deal while seeming to take a swipe at Donald Trump for perpetuating myths about expanding trade.

The president said the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will grow jobs and wages for U.S. workers and will put the nation ahead of China in the Pacific Rim, not the protectionist policies being suggested by the presumptive Republican nominee.

“The way to make the new economy work for everybody is actually to make sure trade works for us and not against us,” Obama said during remarks on the economy in Elkhart, Ind.“Walling ourselves off from other countries, that’s not going to do it,” he said. “A lot of tough talk that doesn’t mean anything is not going to do it.”

Obama’s didn’t name his target but Trump has suggested applying high tariffs on goods from places like China and Mexico and has expressed strong opposition to the TPP and has said he would shred all other trade deals that the United States has negotiated during the past 20 years.

“That tough talk and promising to slap tariffs on imports from other countries won’t help the nation’s middle-class families to thrive,” the president said.

Obama argued that TPP is the way to realize that goal of adding jobs and raising wages by bringing the rest of the world, including China, into alignment with U.S. standards on labor and environmental rules.

“If you don’t want China to set the rules for the 21st century — and they’re trying — then TPP makes sure that we set the rules,” he said.

“So the choice is simple: If you want to help China, then you shouldn’t pass this trade deal that we negotiated. If you want to help America, you need to pass it.”

He tried to stifle the notion that “other countries are killing us on trade” but that in actuality trade has benefited most sectors of the economy — from agriculture to technology — broadly across the country.

“If you don’t like NAFTA, this TPP trade deal overhauls NAFTA with enforceable, much stronger labor and environmental standards, which means that they won’t undercut us as easily,” he told the crowd.

Obama blamed most of the losses in manufacturing and other U.S. jobs over the past decade on technology and automation, which now requires fewer workers.