Trade deal

Letter to the Editor

Our Minnesota Congressional delegation should vote no on the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, which could come up for a vote any time before the end of the year. 

The TPP does more to advance the interests of multi-national corporations than it does to improve trade relations or benefit everyday Americans. 

In addition to transferring US jobs overseas, increasing extreme energy extraction and raising basic healthcare costs, the deal would give foreign corporations the power to sue governments - at the national, state or local level - for any laws they see as “impeding expected future profits.” That means if a foreign corporation thinks one of our township’s laws is an obstacle to their “expected profit,” they could sue for millions of dollars. 

The same goes for long-standing federal laws and basic regulations like food safety protections. In fact, our government was already sued by a Canadian corporation under this provision in NAFTA, when TransCanada sued the U.S. for over $15 billion for rejecting the KeyStone XL Pipeline. 

TPP would expand this power to over 9,000 new foreign corporations in 11 other countries. This provision in the TPP violates our fundamental sovereignty as a country as well as people’s right to have a say over what goes on in their communities locally - all to protect and expand corporate profit.

I am disappointed that Senator Klobuchar has yet to take a stance on the TPP. I urge the Senator to stand with the interests of citizens, not corporations, and publicly commit to voting no on TPP.

 

Advertising Deadlines

Deadline for advertisements and copy is Friday, noon.

Staples World

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 100 Staples, MN 56479 Telephone: (218) 894-1112 - Fax: (218) 894-3570 Toll Free: 1-888-894-1112 E Mail: office@staplesworld.com; editor@staplesworld.com

Deadline: Friday, noon

 

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