"The TPP is not about free trade. It's a corporate coup d'etat--against us!"

[pampango]

53. No. The fact that republicans oppose it and Democrats support it does not make it good or right.

It does mean that it is difficult to claim that anyone who opposes it is somehow un-Democratic or not liberal.

I have said many times that I would only consider supporting the TPP if it includes strong and enforceable provisions on labor rights and the environment. If it does not have them then it is not worth passing. And even if it does it would depend on what else was in it. I don't expect a perfect agreement but would only accept a good one.

I would love to see human/labor rights and environmental protections included in international trading rules. The only way I see that happening is if we negotiate their inclusion with other countries. Those rights and standards are in the negotiating guidelines and, from what I have read, represent a major part of Obama's plan for dealing with China.

Concluding an agreement without them would in my opinion, and I hope Obama's, be pointless. I don't know that they are in the draft being negotiated, since those chapters have not been leaked, but I don't know that they are not in there either. I have read complaints from right wing sources that labor and the environment are in the discussion - and the RW'ers are complaining about it, of course. But who knows if they will be in the final document.