The White House released the full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal on Thursday, and it was immediately followed by shade cast from the President’s own party.
In the earliest reaction to the release of the pact, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) took to social media with the hashtag #TPPWorseThanWeThought.
“#TPP e-commerce chapter undermines consumer #privacy for sensitive personal data (health, financial, and more),” she tweeted Thursday morning.
Now that all 30 chapters and 2,000 pages of the deal are out in the open, Members of Congress and the public are, for the first time, able to analyze the 12-nation accord in depth.
During the negotiating process, lawmakers did have access to US proposals, but only under strict rules that prevented them from taking notes or sharing information with their staff.
Rep. Slaughter was one of the lone voices willing to comment at such an early stage in the review process.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), a supporter of liberalized trade, told reporters it’s too early to stake a position on the final deal.
“I don’t know the answer to what my position is on a trade agreement. I have not read—because we just got it this morning,” he said during the Speaker’s weekly briefing.
“We have a lot of work to review this agreement,” he added.
On the other side of Capitol Hill, longtime champion of the TPP, Rep. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), was also cautious in his reaction to the news.
“I look forward to digging into the details of what was released today,” he said in a statement. “In the days and weeks ahead I will be talking with Oregon workers, farmers and ranchers, manufacturers, and innovators to learn about what this agreement will do for them”
Under provisions included in Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), Thursday’s release kicks off a 90-day review period before President Obama can formally sign the agreement and send it to Congress, where it will only need a simple majority vote for approval.
Read the Trans-Pacific Partnership here.
