Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets New Zealand Prime Minister John Key

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, front left, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, front right, look out before the start of their meeting at Abe's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, March 24, 2015. The two prime ministers were expected to affirm increased coordination toward an early conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations involving 12 Pacific-rim countries.

(Franck Robichon / AP)

To the Editor:

WENY was the only media outlet to cover a March 11 protest at Congressman Tom Reed's office over fast tracking the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Fast Track is an extraordinary procedure that has only been used 16 times, including for the North American Free Trade Agreement, since Richard Nixon cooked it up in the early 1970s. Leaks from the extremely secretive TPP negotiation reveal the proposed deal would expand NAFTA's terms that empower foreign corporations to attack U.S. environmental, health and safety laws. And the TPP includes special privileges to help firms send jobs offshore, eliminating many risks that make corporations think twice about relocating American manufacturing and service-sector jobs to low-wage countries.

The TPP includes Vietnam, a totalitarian nation which bans independent unions and was recently red-listed by the U.S. Department of Labor as one of just four countries that use both child labor and forced labor in apparel production.

Fast Track removes Congressional authority to make sure deals such as the TPP do not cause more harm. Previously, Congress has rejected this power grab, but the TPP has so many outrageous provisions, including a ban on Buy American policies, that TPP's boosters need this constitution-busting to slip the TPP past Congress. Why is the media ignoring TPP, another bad trade deal?

Jim Carr

Chemung County Democratic Chair

Millport