Calling Corporate-Backed Deals an "Indisputable" Good, Obama Makes Pitch for TTIP [View all]

[JEB]

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/04/24/calling-corporate-backed-deals-indisputable-good-obama-makes-pitch-ttip

Sitting next to Chancellor Angela Merkel during a summit in Germany, U.S. president continued to ignore opponents as he defended controversial agreement with European nations
by
Jon Queally, staff writer

Despite the tens of thousands of people who marched against the deal in Germany ahead of his arrival and the steady drop in support for such neoliberal trade deals overall, President Barack Obama stood next to Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday and defended the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and said similar past deals have been an "indisputable" benefit to the U.S. economy.

"It is indisputable that ["free trade"] has made our economy stronger," Obama said during a joint news conference. "It has made sure that our businesses are the most competitive in the world."

Though the failure of past deals like NAFTA have become rallying cries on both sides of the partisan aisle in this year's U.S. presidential campaign—with middle- and working-class Americans speaking out against them like never before—Obama said Sunday that "the majority of people still favor trade" and "still recognize, on balance, that it's a good idea."

Offering a quite visible contradiction to that assertion, tens of thousands marched in the streets of Hanover on Saturday to let both Obama and Merkel how strong their opposition to TTIP remains.

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He definitely was not wearing his comfortable shoes.