By Celeste Drake From the Daily Kos
It’s hard to believe but the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal is worse than we imagined, when it comes to working families. As it stands the TPP deal is made by corporations, for corporations, at the expense of working people and our democracy.
Here are five things in the TPP that are worse than we’ve been promised:
1. The auto rules of origin are so low that a car or truck could be majority “Made in China” and still qualify for TPP tariff benefits. The 45% nominal TPP car and truck content requirement has loopholes so large you could drive a truck through them. Loopholes such as lower content requirements for certain important car parts. The TPP is an outsourcing deal—not a trade deal.
2. Popular “Buy American” purchasing rules will be watered down. This means the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of State and even the Department of Homeland Security will be required to treat bidders from every TPP country as if they were U.S. bidders when making many purchasing decisions. This will send more jobs overseas.