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Rep. Jan Schakowsky Statement on TPP Talks Failing to Reach Conclusion in Maui


CHICAGO –(ENEWSPF)—August 4, 2015. “The 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement failed to reach a conclusion in Maui, and that is good news for workers and consumers in the United States and around the world.  U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman has announced that the efforts to close the deal will continue, however, and that means we must keep up our effort to defeat unfair trade agreements that jeopardize jobs, our health, the environment and even the food we eat.

I continue to be outraged that the United States negotiating team is the primary, in fact the only, proponent for expanded monopoly drug pricing requirements and reduced competition from generics.  Our country should be looking for ways to make prescription drugs more affordable not demanding the expansion of the rights of brand-name pharmaceutical corporations to enlarge their profits at the expense of health care consumers.  While reports are that Republican members of Congress are pushing for these provisions and higher drug prices, every other country at the TPP negotiating table is putting access to essential medicines first. 

I hope the Administration will take a step back and to stop its insistence on harmful pharmaceutical and other trade provisions that will help a few corporations at the expense of the rest of us.  Instead, we should come together on fair trade agreements that protect working families, consumers and our planet.”

Source: www.schakowsky.house.gov

 


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