After much controversy, U.S. and Pacific nations strike a flawed trade deal

On Oct. 5, the New York Times reported that the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations reached a trade deal for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The Sierra Club has been working tirelessly to expose the threats of this deal on communities, the environment, and our climate.

In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune released the following statement:

"Despite widespread, international opposition, the United States government is moving toward signing a trade deal that threatens our families, our communities, and our environment.

“Amazingly, the public is still not able to see the contents of a completed pact that has been negotiated entirely behind closed doors. But we know enough about the pact to understand that, if passed, it would undermine decades of environmental progress and threaten our climate. The Trans-Pacific Partnership would empower big polluters to challenge climate and environmental safeguards in private trade courts and would expand trade in dangerous fossil fuels that would increase fracking and imperil our climate. The TPP’s environment chapter might look nice on the surface but will be hollow on the inside, and history gives us no reason to believe that TPP rules on conservation challenges such as the illegal timber or wildlife trade will ever be enforced.

"Congress must stand up for American jobs, clean air and water, and a healthy climate and environment by rejecting the Trans-Pacific Partnership."

For background on the wrongheaded pact, check out this story:

What you don't know about the Trans Pacific Partnership could hurt you -- and the planet