WASHINGTON — Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Co-Chairs, Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN), released the following statement today reacting to the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which took place today in New Zealand:
“The Trans-Pacific Partnership would be a self-inflicted wound for our economy and our quality of life. This deal would force Americans to compete with far-off workers earning less than a dollar an hour. It means that America will be doing business with countries that have long records of human rights violations and currency manipulation. And it forces us to compromise our high health and environmental standards, instead forcing us to normalize with nations whose protections are clearly sub-par.
“Let’s be clear: This signing statement doesn’t mean anything if Congress fails to ratify the deal. We all want the U.S. to build strong trade partnerships, but not at the expense of the American worker. The CPC will continue to oppose the TPP as this process unfolds, and work to prevent its ratification in Congress. Working Americans must continue to fight against bad trade deals. Elected officials should know that the public is watching this issue closely this year, and we expect that our country’s leaders will respond by opposing this deal.”
The Progressive Caucus released its principles for trade in 2015. They can be found here.
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