Thomas McKee: TPP has law issues

I’m usually in agreement with the editorial positions that you take, but I cannot agree with your Oct. 11 editorial “TPP is a deal worth making.”

Corporate power is essentially running our country now, and the TPP (and similar trade treaties) only enhance that power. Many bemoan the treaty’s numerous provisions favoring big international corporations. However, the overriding problem with it are its provisions that empower corporations to essentially negate laws of the participating countries if those laws diminish their profits.

Decisions in these matters are to be made, not by the courts, but by an international panel of arbitrators (with many of its members undoubtedly being selected by the corporations).

So by approving the TPP, the United States will be surrendering additional sovereignty to international corporations.

World trade is a good thing, but the world’s nations granting international corporations power to veto their laws is simply too high a price to pay just to increase trade.

Some meddling with the laws of sovereign nations is already occurring under the provisions of the NAFTA treaty. That’s bad enough; we shouldn’t enable more of it. The TPP must be defeated.

This story was originally published October 20, 2015 at 4:29 PM with the headline "Thomas McKee: TPP has law issues."