Letter: TPP gives corporations too much power

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

This week the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City is hosting delegates from 12 Pacific Rim countries for high-level negotiations of the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) treaty. Civil-society organizations have been ringing alarm bells about the TPP, principally because it aims to push regulatory changes that promote — indeed have been written by — corporate interests at the expense of democratically enacted laws.

Leaked documents suggest that the TPP will contain "investor-state dispute resolutions" that would give transnational corporations still more leverage over elected governments, including the ability to sue against environmental, labor, health and other public-interest regulations that might limit their "expected future profits."

For this and many other reasons, the TPP represents an astonishing assault on democracy and national sovereignty, threatening not only existing public-interest laws, but also the ability of governments to pass such laws in the future. To oppose this secretive, yet far-reaching, treaty, watchdog groups have organized a rally and press conference outside the hotel on today at noon. The TPP and treaties like it have the potential to detrimentally effect all of us. Citizen opposition is urgent.

Jon Jensen

Brian Emerson

The Rethink Project

Salt Lake City