Fast track to ruin

The Trans Pacific Partnership would favor big corporations over the little guy

It’s said all the time — everyone loves small businesses. They’re the backbone of our communities, creating jobs and making our country stronger. For an organization like the Chesapeake Sustainable Business Council, we take it a step further — our aim is to strengthen and rebuild underserved communities in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. We know how much business owners can do to rebuild our still-weak economy.

So why is Congress considering legislation that could end up driving those companies out of business?

American small business owners have reason to be very concerned about Congress’ debate on whether to pass “fast track” Trade Promotion Authority. The measure passed the Senate and is due for a vote in the House this month. If enacted, the legislation would allow for a controversial trade pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), to be rushed through Congress by limiting time to review the text while requiring an up-or-down vote with no opportunity for amendments.

This deal would support multinational corporations and give them the power to undermine our policies and priorities on the national and local levels, at the expense of our local businesses. This is not the kind of trade policy we need. Congress should block “fast track” approval for the TPP.

The TPP is currently being negotiated in secret, with no public engagement or input from anyone but representatives of inter- national corporations. Not only do owners of small or mid-sized businesses have no say in the deal’s contents, we are not even able to access any information about it. What wedoknowabout the deal is through leaks and is incredibly troubling.

Particularly concerning is the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provision, which represents a major threat to our sovereignty and economy. ISDS would allow foreign companies to sue the U.S. government for actions taken on the local level if they can claim those actions hurt their business or lower profits. This would empower an unelected international trade tribunal to overturn our laws or impose fines on municipalities for passing legislation that corporations do not like — simply because that legislation was designed to support local businesses rather than multinational firms.

For example, any “Buy American” or “Buy Maryland” provisions could be thrown out if a foreign company wants to have access to government contracts, with no legal recourse for our government to take. This isn’t just a threat to American sovereignty; it’s a threat to local businesses as well. TPP backers say the deal will allow our businesses better access to foreign markets. But there simply isn’t an equivalent foreign market: the U.S. federal procurement market is approximately double the size of similar markets in the other TPP nations. This means that any new markets American businesses could pursue as a result of the deal would be outweighed by the impact of their new