As President Obama completes his final term in office, his administration is working closely with Big Business and Big Finance to sneak the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress during the lame duck session after the November election. The TPP is an international agreement that was negotiated in secret with the help of hundreds of corporate advisers. If ratified, it will rig the political system even more to benefit multinational corporations at the expense of our sovereignty and our ability to protect our communities and the planet. Bill Waren of Friends of the Earth will join us to discuss the close ties between the financial industry and the office of the US Trade Representative and why it is critical that we stop the TPP. Gillian Locascio of the Washington Fair Trade Coalition will speak with us about how people are organizing to stop the TPP.
Guests:
Bill Waren is a trade policy analyst for Friends of the Earth. He works to protect the environment from the negative impact of international trade and investment agreements. Bill contributes to the policy discussion about trade and environment issues as they arise in community forums, the U.S. congressional debate, the federal agency process, international negotiations, and litigation before international trade and investment tribunals. Prior to joining Friends of the Earth, Bill worked at the Forum on Democracy & Trade and its sister organization, the Harrison Institute for Public Law at Georgetown University. Earlier in his career, Bill served as federal affairs counsel for the National Conference of State Legislatures and as a staffer for the Illinois General Assembly. A native of rural, downstate Illinois, Bill is a graduate of the University of Illinois and Duke Law School.
Gillian Locascio is the director for the Washington Fair Trade Coalition, a group of 66 labor, faith, environmental, student, public health, social justice organizations, fair trade businesses and cooperatives in Washington State that are committed to creating a fair, balanced, and sustainable global trading system. Prior to joining the coalition, she worked extensively in the United States and Latin America as a community health and human rights advocate, where she watched both CAFTA and the Panama Free Trade agreement go into effect.