WASHINGTON, January 9 (Sputnik) – The passage of multilateral free trade agreements between the United States and its international partners could reduce economic standards among all partnered countries and erode national sovereignty, US congressmen have told Sputnik.
"The Europeans well understand that this is enormous, and both agreements, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership [TTIP] and the Transpacific Partnership [TPP], are both enormous giveaways of national sovereignty to multinational corporations," Democratic Florida congressman Alan Grayson stressed in an interview with Sputnik Thursday.
"That is where we [the United States] are heading if we make the same mistake and we relinquish our monetary policy and trade policy and fiscal policy the way these [trade] negotiators want us to do," the Florida congressman emphasized.
Meanwhile, New York Democrat Paul Tonko told Sputnik Thursday that by entering into new free trade agreements the United States risks downgrading its own economic standards.
"The ripple effect is real and we just bring ourselves down with that process when we don't commit to standards and outcomes that are speaking to social and economic justice," the congressman said.
According to Tonko, now is not the time for the United States to "dumb down" or reduce commitment to "public safety and high environmental standards and economic justice for workers" by agreeing to TTIP, TPP or other major free trade agreements.
A coalition of Democratic congressmen, as well as national, regional and state organizations together with unions organized a press conference on Thursday to rally in opposition to a pending vote to grant US President Barack Obama the authority to enter into the free trade agreements with limited congressional oversight and input.
In December, 2014, Obama said that he would work with Congress to pass a fast track authority, allowing him to negotiate international trade deals requiring only an up or down vote by the US legislative branch.
