Over the weekend, while making the rounds of Asian capitals, President Obama announced that the United States would join negotiations for a trans-Pacific trade deal with seven other pacific rim countries: Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Peru and Chile. 

U.S. commitment to the trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) is being called a "major breakthrough" in the New Zealand press. New Zealand's prime minister John Key said the negotiations were initiated on the weekend and could be completed by 2011.

What is wrong with this picture? Over a year ago, progressive observers in Australia explained it for the less educated members of the Fourth Estate in the United States:

For the US to undertake negotiations for a trade agreement Congress has first to grant approval to start specific negotiations, and has also to grant Trade Promotion Authority to enable the Executive to conclude the negotiations and put an agreement to Congress with a yes or no vote, without amendments. There has been no formal Congress approval of TPPA negotiation, President Bush’s Trade Promotion Authority has also expired in March 2007. This means the current US administration has no approval to start negotiation and no authority to conclude them.

It is really that clear cut. Apparently, however, bureaucrats in the United States Trade Representative's (USTR) office believe that publishing their intent to abbrogate the Constitution of the United States in the Federal Register absolves them of any immediate need for Congressional approval. 

In their Federal Register posting, The USTR claims authority to negotiate on the TPP under Chapter 19 of U.S. Code 3804. This Section of the code was created by the Trade Act of 2002 which expired on July 1, 2007.

For reference, Section 3803, immediately preceding Section 3804, is titled, "Trade agreements authority." It reads:

...this chapter will be promoted thereby, the President -
(A) may enter into trade agreements with foreign countries
before -
(i) July 1, 2005; or
(ii) July 1, 2007, if trade authorities procedures are
extended under subsection (c) of this section;

TPA was extended from July 2005 to July 2007 under subsection c, but it officially expired on July 1, 2007. USTR is taking a novel approach and acting as if section 3804 is still valid even though the authority given in 3803 to follow the procedures in 3804 has expired. They are claiming that the procedures are alive even though the authority that created them is dead. I'm not a lawyer, but this sure looks like another case where the criminals in Washington are pretending they have power and hoping we don't call them on it. Similar to our "voluntary" income tax I suppose.

Still, the rule of law has not yet been openly declared null and void in the United States. If, in fact, the U.S. has entered into negotiations on the TPPA this weekend, President Obama and the USTR are openly violating our Constitution and should be held accountable. 

Please contact your Congressman today to demand an explanation. The question is simple: Under what authority is the Obama adminstration negotiating U.S. entry into the TPPA? The answer is equally simple: U.S. involvement in the TPPA is illegitimate and must be immediately ceased. If your Congressman can't figure this one out, they should be removed from office.

Note: The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is the sister agreement to the Trans-Atlantic Agenda. Together with NAFTA and the North American Leaders Summit (new name for the discredited SPP), these deals are building blocks for an integrated system of global governance managed by Western financial interests and their collaborators around the world. What we did to the stop the SPP, we can do to the TPPA.  Let's get to work.

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rprew said:

Time for a good house cleaning... "The question is simple: Under what authority is the Obama adminstration negotiating U.S. entry into the TPPA?" Obama and friends will probably borrow a Nancy Pelosi line on this one: "Are you serious?" It is very apparent that the Constitution means nothing to these people, and laws apply to them only when it is convenient. "We don't need no stinking constitution!"

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November 17, 2009
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Pat Henry said:

CFR plans gliding along Great research on the (ill-)legal angle of this. Thanks! From trade to military, Internationalists are seeking a fait acompli. "For the most part, the leaders of both major parties in Washington, D.C., are globalists. With few exceptions, they have all bought into the CFR's philosophy of internationalism. The fact that we even have such a military command as USNORTHCOM--and even more, that the unit is wearing insignia with UN colors ... without the slightest protest from virtually any US congressman or senator, demonstrates the apathy of Washington elitists regarding America's merger into a multinational governing structure." - from http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2009/cbarchive_20091117.html

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November 17, 2009
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