The United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations reached an agreement Monday on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the largest regional trade accord in history. The agreement has been negotiated for eight years in secret and will encompass 40 percent of the global economy. The secret 30-chapter text has still not been made public, although sections of draft text have been leaked by WikiLeaks during the negotiations. Congress will have at least 90 days to review the TPP before President Obama can sign it. The Senate granted Obama approval to fast-track the measure and present the agreement to Congress for a yes-or-no vote with no amendments allowed. During Senate hearings in April, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders fought fast track, warning that the American people need time to understand the TPP. He issued a statement Monday saying, “I am disappointed but not surprised by the decision to move forward on the disastrous Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement that will hurt consumers and cost American jobs. Wall Street and other big corporations have won again. It is time for the rest of us to stop letting multi-national corporations rig the system to pad their profits at our expense.” Robert Weissman, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, joins us to discuss TPP.

 


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Robert Weissman is president of Public Citizen and a staunch public interest advocate and activist, as well as an expert on corporate and government accountability. He worked as director of the corporate accountability organization Essential Action from 1995 to 2009. From 1989 to 2009, he was editor of the Multinational Monitor, a magazine that tracked multinational corporations. Weissman helped make HIV drugs available to the developing world and has provided assistance to numerous governments on intellectual property and access to medicine issues. He previously worked as a public interest attorney at the Center for Study of Responsive Law.

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