Jeff Sessions

U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions makes remarks at the University of South Alabama 50th Anniversary Grand Celebration Friday, May 3, 2013, in the Mitchell Center on the university's campus in Mobile, Ala. (AL.com file)

U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., drew parallels between the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union and the upcoming presidential election in the United States, saying in a statement Friday that "now it's our time."

Sessions, a strong supporter of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, is also a staunch opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement negotiated between President Barack Obama and Pacific Rim countries that has yet to be finalized. Alabama's junior senator has likened the TPP to the European Union because it has language that paves the way for a trans-national government body. He has argued that the TPP threatens American jobs and that the U.S. would lose sovereignty under the trade pact, which Trump is also against. Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton once called the TPP "the gold standard" of trade deals but has since said she also opposes the agreement.

"Just as in the U.K., our November presidential election presents a stark contrast. The establishment forces, the global powers, are promoting their values and their interests. They want to erode borders, rapidly open America's markets to foreign produced goods, while having little interest in advancing America's ability to sell abroad. These forces have zero interest in better job opportunities and higher wages for our citizens," the senator said. "It has been known for years that the European Union has often served as a barrier to its members taking action that would serve their own interests. Perhaps nothing proves this more definitively than the current migrant crisis, where the EU has clearly been part of the problem, not the solution. And, consider the promotion of radical trade policies that erode the power of the people to control their lives. Millions upon millions of dollars from around the globe are being spent to get America to agree to the massive, twelve-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership. While sold as a trade deal, in reality, the TPP is a Trojan horse for yet another sovereignty-eroding global pact. If implemented, it would create a new governing body that would exercise power and make decisions that the United States Congress would be effectively powerless to block. Like the EU, each nation gets one vote. Brunei and Vietnam get one vote as does the president of the United States."

Sessions said the so-called Brexit vote is "must serve as a wake-up call to all Americans."

"Now it's our time," he continued. "The period of the nation-state has not ended. No far-off global government or union can command the loyalty of a people like their own country. Vague unions have no ability to call on the people to sacrifice for the common good. They seem incapable of making decisions and when they do, they have difficulty executing the decision."