On Wednesday 23 September we had our first meeting on zoom, ‘Stop the
Toxic Trade Deal with Trump: Why a US/UK Trade Deal must be opposed’
We had three excellent speakers. Jean Blaylock, campaign and policy manager
from Global Justice Now, explained that these days trade deals are all about
power. In the old days countries used gun boats to enforce their power in the
world; nowadays they use trade deals. They use these trade deals to entrench the
neoliberal way of doing things.
If we let the proposed trade deal pass, all the rules and regulations that are written
into the 32 chapters of the US/UK trade deal will get written into the rules of both
countries. Later when any activists want the government to improve things for
people or the environment there will be a simple answer,
‘Well, it’s interesting you should say that but we can’t do anything about that. It’s
written into the rules.’
Nikki gave us an idea of how the trade deal would affect workers’ rights and Gay
Lee was able to speak about the NHS and pharmaceuticals.
All three speakers agreed that there is every reason to hope that the US deal can
be defeated if we build a sufficiently large and diverse movement. For more
information see https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/campaigns/trade-justice
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We’re part of Global Justice Now, a democratic membership organisation which campaigns against inequality and injustice in the global economy. We want to see a world where ordinary people control the resources they need to live a decent life, rather than corporations and the super rich calling the shots.