DeLauro Statement on Trans-Pacific Partnership Text

Statement

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) released the following statement today on the release of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) text. She will hold a press conference with other Members of Congress at noon at the House Triangle to discuss the deal.

"After seven years of secret negotiations, this massive deal appears to be even worse for the American public than we had feared. Its main problems can be simply stated: it would have us do more business with several low wage countries that have undemocratic regimes and rampant human and labor rights abuses, and it would cost Americans their jobs and reduce wages.

"This agreement will limit our ability to protect consumers from dangerous seafood from countries like Vietnam and Malaysia. And it is a giveaway to Big Pharma, which wants to lock cheaper generic drugs out of the market. This will result in more expensive medicines, as well as slower progress toward medical breakthroughs.

"The agreement also has no enforceable currency manipulation rules in it. Currency manipulation by TPP partners like Japan and Vietnam has already cost Americans thousands of jobs. Economist C. Fred Bergsten has identified currency manipulation with the loss of five million U.S. jobs.

"Now that this deal is public, Americans will finally be able to see for themselves how disastrous this agreement is for their jobs, their wages and the health of their families. I will continue to do everything possible to ensure that it does not become a reality.

"The Administration will claim this agreement is a foreign policy triumph, but nothing could be further from the truth. By making this deal, we are rewarding human trafficking in Malaysia, violence against LGBT people in Brunei, environmental degradation in Peru, and the further shipping of American jobs overseas to the very countries that do not play by the rules."

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