[Editor’s Note: In addition to the points Bernie makes also remember that the TPP would subjugate American laws and protections for things like the environment and labor conditions to review and possible rejection by an international body of corporate lawyers. We got a nasty taste of what that can look like when our ‘country of origin’ labeling of meat requirement had to be killed off because a 2016 World Trade Organization ruling cleared the way for punishing fines. Among all the reasons to stay out of TPP the loss of sovereignty is the greatest. — Mark L. Taylor]
WASHINGTON, April 12 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement Thursday after President Donald Trump said Thursday morning that he was directing his advisers to look into rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a deal he pulled out of immediately after becoming president:
“In a series of broken promises President Trump made to the working people of this country, rejoining the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership would be the biggest yet.
“Joining the TPP would not bring back one American job that has been outsourced to China. Instead, it would force more American workers to compete with desperate workers in Vietnam who make 65 cents an hour and migrant computer workers in Malaysia who are working as modern day slaves. It is bad enough to force U.S. workers to compete with low-wage labor; they should not be forced to compete with no-wage labor.
“Trump talks tough on trade, but the reality is that since he has been president our trade deficits with China and Mexico have gone up by more than $35 billion. The Trump Administration is still providing multi-billion dollar federal contracts to some of the largest outsourcers in America. And Trump’s tax plan is giving a massive tax break to companies that ship jobs overseas.
“We need to fundamentally rewrite our trade policies to benefit American workers, not just the CEOs of large, multi-national corporations. Rejoining the TPP would be a betrayal of American workers, and a step in the wrong direction.”