Rallying against the Trans-Pacific Partnership on February 18, 2016, outside the Federal Building in Bismarck, North Dakota, protesters heard Chase Iron Eyes’ speech warning against the proposed treaty. Photo courtesy Dakota Resource Council
Lawyer scorches Trans-Pacific Partnership proposal at Bismarck rally
By Talli Nauman
Native Sun News
Health & Environment Editor
www.nsweekly.com BISMARCK, N.D. –– At a Feb. 18 rally here against the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, tribal member Chase Iron Eyes told the crowd he mistrusts the federal trade and public policy measure, partly because of Indians’ bad experience with treaties. “From what I could read – and I’m a lawyer – this is a treaty, and Indians have a sordid history with treaties,” he said in a speech at the Rally to Stop the TPP held outside the Federal Building in the state capital. The TPP, signed Feb. 4 by trade ministers and negotiators of 12 Pacific Rim nations, would bind them to mutual rules, if the governments of those countries ratify it. The U.S. Congress voted in 2015 to cede its authority to modify the agreement to the President. Members of Congress now are limited to either a “yes” or “no” vote when the Office of the President introduces a ratification bill. Iron Eyes noted that critics consider the so-called fast-track authorization “an unconstitutional delegation of power from Congress to the President.” He called the TPP “the new NAFTA,” noting that the North American Free Trade Agreement, allowed TransCanada Corp. to file a recent $16-million lawsuit against the United States for unrealized profits after the Canadian company failed to obtain a Presidential Permit for the proposed Keystone XL tar-sands crude-oil pipeline construction.
Read the rest of the story on the all new Native Sun News website: Lawyer scorches Trans-Pacific Partnership proposal at Bismarck rally (Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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