Strange Bedfellows Are Blocking The McConnell-Obama Trade Deal (TPP)

[RiverLover]

5. That's so weird, I read the opposite~

TPP Wikileaked: US Watering Down Enviro Protections in Secret Trade Deal
January 2014



Another chapter in the tale of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — a secret international trade deal being pushed by the Obama administration and described by critics as “NAFTA on steroids” — has once again been Wikileaked. This one deals with the environment, and it shows that, by and large, the US is caving on environmental standards it had previously set for international trade agreements.

Environmental groups say the protections that are included in the document are weak — and, furthermore, that the pact contains no enforcement mechanisms. This breaks with recent precedent — in 2007, Bush reached an agreement with congressional Democrats that required environmental provisions in trade agreements to be legally binding.

“The lack of fully-enforceable environmental safeguards means negotiators are allowing a unique opportunity to protect wildlife and support legal sustainable trade of renewable resources to slip through their fingers,” said Carter Roberts, president and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund. “These nations account for more than a quarter of global trade in fish and wood products and they have a responsibility to address trade’s impact on wildlife crime, illegal logging and overfishing.”...

http://billmoyers.com/2014/01/16/tpp-wikileaked-us-watering-down-enviro-protections-in-secret-trade-deal/

Who to believe?