Problems mount for White House in push for Trans-Pacific trade pact

[KittyWampus]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/14/us-usa-trade-idUSBRE9AC1AE20131114

(Reuters) - A White House push for a freer hand to clinch trade deals ran into a roadblock on Wednesday as two-thirds of Democrats in the House of Representatives stated their opposition, complicating efforts to finalize a pact with 11 Pacific Rim countries.

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In a letter to President Barack Obama, 151 House Democrats said there had not been enough consultation between the administration and Congress over the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP pact.

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Previously, 230 U.S. House members and 60 senators had written to the administration to demand that any deal ensures member countries do not engage in unfair currency practices that could hurt the U.S. economy.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Sander Levin, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said on Wednesday that they would reject any agreement that did not contain a currency manipulation clause. "You've got to be willing to vote 'No' if (currency manipulation) is not addressed," Graham said.

A draft of the intellectual property chapter under discussion in the TPP talks released by WikiLeaks on Wednesday revealed serious rifts among the countries participating, and raised further doubts about concluding an agreement by year end.

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Gary Hufbauer, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said Obama faced the tricky task of winning over Democrats on the left who are traditionally opposed to trade agreements and right-wing Republicans who do not want to grant him any concessions.

[msongs]

1. Obama faces the tricky task of deceiving democrats by hiding what is in the TPP nt

[Populist_Prole]

2. May the tripping stones turn into a stone wall

I don't want to appear so pollyannish so as to believe we who oppose this blank check to the oligharchs have the momentum, but it's sure refreshing to hear more and more of opposition to this deal than the "done deal" language of, say, 6 months ago.

Then again I thought the same thing about NAFTA when it was being foisted. Despite well publicized opposition to it, Clinton pushed it with an absolute fervor and did lots of arm twisting to whip populists in to line.

[n2doc]

3. bribing, not winning over

money will be the lubricant to screw us all.