With the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) on Ropes, It’s Corporate Power vs. People Power on Capitol Hill
By Deirdre Fulton
Global Research
September 17, 2016
Statements from Sen. Orrin Hatch suggest lame-duck Senate vote is not off the table
As President Barack Obama gathered high-profile supporters of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) for a meeting at the White House on Friday, the corporate-friendly trade agreement was dealt a blow as Vietnam’s parliament deferred its long-expected ratification.
Reuters reported from Hanoi Friday that Vietnam will not include ratification of TPP on its agenda for its next parliament session, which begins October 20.
This adds “to uncertainty over the future of…Obama’s signature trade deal,” the news agency wrote. “As arguably the biggest beneficiary of the deal covering 40 percent of the global economy, Vietnam was expected to be among the first to ratify the TPP, the prospect of which helped spur record foreign investment last year in its booming manufacturing sector.”
According to Reuters, Vietnamese newspaper Thanh Nien cited Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, the parliament chairwoman, as saying Vietnam’s ratification would depend on the ruling Communist Party, “the global situation,” and the outcome of the U.S. election.
Both major party nominees are opposed to the trade deal, along with many Democrats, some Republicans, and wide swaths of civil society.
But Friday’s meeting “is an effort by the White House to show that support for the agreement also crosses party lines,” The Hill wrote, and “the latest effort by Obama togenerate support for the pact, which would be the largest free trade deal in history and is a centerpiece of his administration’s so-called ‘pivot’ to Asia.”
The Rest…HERE
