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Groups Warn Big Trade Deal Could Mean Big Problems for Oregon

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015   

PORTLAND, Ore. - After five years of negotiations, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is getting closer to being presented to Congress - and labor, manufacturing and government watchdog groups maintain the results could be disastrous.

The TPP is a massive international trade agreement between the United States and 11 Pacific Rim nations.

Elizabeth Swager, director of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign, said a chief concern is that the public has seen only parts of the proposals - and only because they've been leaked.

"The only people that they're really hearing from have been given special advisory status in the negotiations," she said, "and that is approximately 600 corporate lobbyists - while the public is locked out and kept in the dark."

Because the agreement covers trade deals that represent about 40 percent of the global economy, Swager said more transparency is critical. It isn't likely, though, if Congress approves a so-called fast-track arrangement that limits debate on the TPP and doesn't allow amendments.

In his role on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is seen as key to whether the fast-track option passes.

Oregon's timber industry has concerns about the Trans-Pacific Partnership undercutting local jobs and manufacturers. At the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, Vice President Greg Pallesen said he doesn't think the TPP would fly if it got the same congressional scrutiny as most legislation.

"It's time for a national debate on trade policies - and to have an up-or-down vote is not a national debate," he said. "People seem to get upset at government control or government-regulated things. These corporations are going to have way more power under the Trans-Pacific Partnership than our government has, in many areas."

The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign on Feb. 18 will kick off a bus tour to local offices of several Oregon members of Congress to ask them not to support fast-track handling of the trade agreement. Tour participants will meet at 9 a.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1624 N.E. Hancock St. in Portland.


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