We didn't expect the U.S. media to cover the event, as it is in the tank for these corporate power grabs and knows the less people know about them, the better. They just lobby on trade deals, they don't report on them.
Anyhoo, TAFTA talks are going on in Arlington, Va., and representatives from a range of organizations explained why they oppose the deal. According to our friends at the Citizens Trade Campaign,
A wide range of consumer, family farm, environmental, Internet freedom, labor and other organizations held a press event ...to expose the pact as more about deregulation than “trade” per se.Here's one good reason to oppose it, CTC tells us:
“European negotiators have targeted ‘Buy Local’ public procurement in 23 cities across the United States, threatening programs that shore up local economies and family farms,” said Kathy Ozer from the National Family Farm Coalition. “Corporations on both sides of the Atlantic are also targeting food safety and consumer measures affecting everything from GMO labeling, to milk standards, to policies under the recent Food Safety Modernization Act. Knocking down progress on food safety and GMOs through TTIP further threatens food sovereignty here in the US and across the globe.”And, jobs.
