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For Immediate Release
November, 05 2015, 10:45am EDT
Contact:
Tel: 020 7820 4900 (general enquiries) / 07711 875 345 (media enquiries)
Email: offleyroad@globaljustice.org.uk (general enquiries) / kevin.smith@globaljustice.org.uk (media enquiries)
TPP Text Released: "A Disaster for Jobs, and Environment and Our Democracy" say Campaigners
WASHINGTON
The release of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) text - a giant trade and investment between 12 countries including the US and Japan - has led to claims by campaigns groups that the pact will cost jobs and represents 'a disaster for democracy.' The TPP is a parallel agreement to TTIP, the US-EU deal, which has met with serious opposition from across Europe.
Like TTIP, the TPP contains the controversial 'corporate court' mechanism, knows as Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), which allows foreign corporations to sue governments for enacting public policy which impacts on corporate profits. It is strongly opposed by trade unions, who believe it will lead to offshoring of jobs and a reduction in working standards. Environmental campaigners say it risks fuelling climate change, while Wikileaks have shown that it will make whistleblowing and investigative journalism harder.
The text was not publicly available during the negotiations. Now US and other congresses have limited time to block ratification of the deal.
Nick Dearden, the director of Global Justice Now said:
"The TPP is a disaster for jobs, and environment and our democracy. It is the latest stage in the corporate capture of our society.
"TPP has less to do with selling more goods, than with rewriting the rules of the global economy is favour of big business. Like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 20 years ago, it will be very good for the very richest, and a disaster for everything and everyone else. NAFTA entrenched inequality and caused massive job losses in the USA, and TPP is turbo-charged NAFTA.
"The good news is this can still be stopped. We'll be doing all we can to support the huge swathe of trade unions, campaigners, activists and consumer groups in all those countries fighting TPP in the coming months."
Global Justice Now is a democratic social justice organisation working as part of a global movement to challenge the powerful and create a more just and equal world. We mobilise people in the UK for change, and act in solidarity with those fighting injustice, particularly in the global south.
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Head of Amnesty International Agrees Trump-Led US Is ‘Destroying World Order’
"Complicity, tacit agreement, appeasement, silence: these have a cost."
Jan 09, 2026
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard expressed agreement Thursday that the US under President Donald Trump is tearing down world order, while also pointing the finger at other major Western powers for being part of the problem.
In a post on X, Callamard reacted to a warning delivered by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier that the Trump administration was undermining systems developed decades ago with the help of the US to ensure greater international stability.
Callamard agreed with Steinmeier's basic argument, but added that Germany has not been an innocent bystander.
"The US is destroying world order," wrote the Amnesty International chief. "And so did Israel for the last two years. With Germany support."
She then accused Germany and other US allies of ignoring past US violations of international law and only getting upset now that it's come back to bite them.
"German and other European leaders cannot suddenly discover that the rule-based order is on its knee when they have governed over its demise for the last two years," she wrote. "Complicity, tacit agreement, appeasement, silence: these have a cost. A high cost. And you/we will all end up paying for it."
Steinmeier's remarks came in response to increased US aggression against both Latin America, where Trump ordered the invasion of Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro, and Europe, where Trump has once again stated his desire to seize Greenland from Denmark.
"Then there is the breakdown of values by our most important partner, the USA, which helped build this world order," the German president said. "It is about preventing the world from turning into a den of robbers, where the most unscrupulous take whatever they want, where regions or entire countries are treated as the property of a few great powers."
Truly extraordinary language by German President Steinmeier: pic.twitter.com/povGBrPmr9
He says the US's values are "broken", that they're changing the world "into a den of thieves in which the most unscrupulous take what they want," and treat "whole countries" as their "property".…
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) January 9, 2026
Top Trump aide Stephen Miller earlier in the week explicitly advocated returning to an era in which great military powers are free to take whatever they want from weaker powers.
"The United States is using its military to secure our interests unapologetically in our hemisphere,” Miller said during an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper. “We’re a superpower and under President Trump we are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower. It is absurd that we would allow a nation in our backyard to become the supplier of resources to our adversaries but not to us.”
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Portland Mayor Decries Mounting Bloodshed, Tells ICE to Get Out After Federal Agents Shoot Two
"As mayor, I call on ICE to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed," said Keith Wilson, the Democratic mayor of Portland, Oregon.
Jan 09, 2026
The mayor of Portland, Oregon told Immigration and Customs Enforcement to leave the city after federal agents shot and wounded two people on Thursday, just a day after an ICE agent killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
"We cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts," Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said in a statement. "Portland is not a 'training ground' for militarized agents, and the 'full force' threatened by the administration has deadly consequences. As mayor, I call on ICE to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed."
The shooting took place Thursday afternoon during what the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) described as a "targeted vehicle stop" conducted by Border Patrol agents. Echoing its narrative about the deadly Minneapolis shooting—which was contradicted by video footage from the scene—DHS said the driver "weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents."
But Wilson said Thursday that the Trump administration could not be trusted to provide an accurate account of events or conduct an honest investigation.
"We know what the federal government says happened here," said Wilson. "There was a time when we could take them at their word. That time has long passed."
The man and woman shot by Border Patrol agents were reportedly married, and both were taken to a nearby hospital. Neither their identities nor their conditions were immediately made public.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said late Thursday that his office was investigating the shooting to determine “whether any federal officer acted outside the scope of their lawful authority."
"We have been clear about our concerns with the excessive use of force by federal agents in Portland, and today’s incident only heightens the need for transparency and accountability," said Rayfield. "Oregonians deserve clear answers when people are injured in their neighborhoods."
The shootings in Minneapolis and Portland were hardly the first time federal immigration officers have used deadly force during US President Donald Trump's lawless mass deportation campaign.
The Marshall Project noted earlier this week that "federal officers have fatally shot at least three other people in the last five months."
"Agents have also shot other people," The Marshall Project added. "The Trace, the nonprofit news organization covering gun violence, has counted more than a dozen such shootings. In some cases, the victims survived, including a woman who suffered multiple bullet wounds in an incident in Chicago in October. The Border Patrol officer who shot her appeared to brag about it in a text message, later presented in court evidence. The message reportedly read, 'I fired 5 rounds, and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.'"
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Senate GOP Faces Fresh Pressure After House Vote for Affordable Care Act Subsidies
"Today's vote represents a glimmer of hope for the 22 million Americans desperately trying to hold onto affordable health coverage for themselves and their families," said one campaigner.
Jan 08, 2026
US Senate Republicans are under renewed pressure to restore the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits after 17 GOP members of the House of Representatives helped Democrats pass legislation to extend the recently expired ACA subsidies by three years.
The 230-196 vote—in which five Republicans did not participate—came after GOP Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Michael Lawler (NY), Rob Bresnahan (Pa.), and Ryan Mackenzie (Pa.) broke with their party's leadership last month and signed a Democratic discharge petition that allowed the bill's backers to bypass House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Joining those four Republicans and all House Democrats on Thursday were GOP Reps. Mike Carey (Ohio), Monica De La Cruz (Texas), Andrew Garbarino (NY), Jeff Hurd (Colo.), David Joyce (Ohio), Thomas Kean Jr. (NJ), Nick LaLota (NY), Max Miller (Ohio), Zachary Nunn (Iowa), Maria Elvira Salazar (Fla.), David Valadao (Calif.), Derrick Van Orden (Wis.), and Rob Wittman (Va.).
"Despite Speaker Johnson's best efforts to block legislation to extend the ACA tax credits—Democratic leadership forced a vote and it passed!" declared Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal (Wash.). "The Senate must immediately follow our lead to lower costs for millions of Americans who are seeing their premiums skyrocket."
Senators also celebrated the development and called for a vote in their GOP-controlled chamber.
"Finally after we pushed this for a year!" said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), noting that 17 House Republicans helped advance the bill. "The Senate must vote on it ASAP to lower costs for tens of millions of Americans."
Over 20 million Americans face soaring premiums because of the lapsed subsidies, and some people are forgoing health insurance coverage because of the new rates—which have surged alongside other rising costs tied to President Donald Trump's agenda.
"At a time when millions of Americans are being crushed under the weight of higher healthcare prices and cost-raising tariffs, this vote to bring back the healthcare tax credits is a testament to thousands of constituents nationwide who never let their members of Congress off the hook," said Unrig Our Economy campaign director Leor Tal.
"Now, we are taking this fight to the Senate," Tal continued. "Just like in the House, Senate Republicans have a choice—either stand with your constituents or vote to raise their healthcare costs exponentially. The answer should be clear."
While similarly welcoming the House passage, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin also called out the majority of Republicans in the chamber who opposed the bill, arguing that they "have once again chosen to abandon working families."
"Millions of everyday Americans have already seen their healthcare premiums skyrocket, and what are Donald Trump and Republicans doing to help? Not a damn thing," Martin said. "They already gutted Medicaid while handing out massive tax cuts to billionaires—and now they see no problem with allowing costs to skyrocket even more. House Democrats fought tooth and nail to pass this bill, and now the Senate must come to the table and extend the tax credits—it's time to stop screwing around with Americans' healthcare."
As the Associated Press reported:
A small group of senators from both parties has been working on an alternative plan that could find support in both chambers and become law. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said that for any plan to find support in his chamber, it will need to have income limits to ensure that the financial aid is focused on those who most need the help. He and other Republicans also want to ensure that beneficiaries would have to at least pay a nominal amount for their coverage.
Finally, Thune said there would need to be some expansion of health savings accounts, which allow people to save money and withdraw it tax-free as long as the money is spent on qualified medical expenses.
Anthony Wright, executive director of the advocacy group Families USA, said Thursday that the House "discharge petition and vote put pressure on the president and the Republican congressional leadership to stop with the poison pills and procedural barriers and extend the enhanced tax credits so Americans can afford coverage."
"Millions of Americans began the new year facing staggering increases in their monthly health insurance premiums—in many cases seeing health costs double overnight," he noted. "This sudden spike, of more than $1,000 on average, is not just a shock—it's a breaking point. Without action, an estimated 4 million marketplace enrollees are expected to go uninsured, and many millions more will become underinsured, paying more and getting less."
"Today's vote represents a glimmer of hope for the 22 million Americans desperately trying to hold onto affordable health coverage for themselves and their families," he said. "Congress should not have needed a discharge petition to force a vote on something so overwhelmingly supported by the public and so essential to the health and financial security of American families. Every day we delay does further damage, so it's urgent for the Senate to stand with the 77% of voters who want to see a clean extension passed."
Wright also stressed that "with open enrollment ending in most states in just six days, families are being forced to make impossible choices in real time. Doing nothing is a choice to price out and push millions to lose coverage, rack up debt, and go without care. The Senate must now do its job and deliver the relief American families urgently need."
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) president Lee Saunders also took aim at the Senate on Thursday, saying that "the cost-of-living crisis is an unaffordable and unsustainable reality for millions of people, and it's getting worse."
"Thankfully, pro-worker lawmakers in the House voted today to restore the Affordable Care Act premium credits—a lifeline helping tens of millions of families afford healthcare," he said. "These tax credits also help keep costs lower for everyone else on health insurance—supporting them should be a no-brainer. We call on the Senate to act quickly and restore these tax credits. Working families are counting on them."
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