Opinion: Smart TPP opponents exist — why not give them a platform?

To the editor: I would hope, in the interest of fairness, that the interview with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker will be matched with an interview with an opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. (“Why the Obama administration thinks the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a good deal,” Oct. 27)

The Times does no service to its readers when it leaves out the history of the creation of the bill — in secret except for corporate interests — or the threats to U.S. federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations, or to the agreement’s execrable method of resolving disputes. All of these and more are causes of “anxiety” for Americans, not “automation and digitization,” as Pritzker would like to have us think.

This trade agreement represents corporatocracy at its worst, and The Times is not doing its job publishing this interview alone. A full interview should be given to a knowledgeable opponent of the TTP.

Tony Litwinko, Los Angeles

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To the editor: This interview of Pritzker presents a string of assertions supporting the TPP, largely devoid of facts and concrete examples. It is a starting point for a discussion of the TPP that should be well under way by now.

Some opponents, notably Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz, have offered more detail. For example, Stiglitz anticipates that the TPP’s allowance of corporations to sue foreign governments will stifle legislation to control climate change.

The TPP’s cause would be better served by thoughtful response to Stiglitz’s criticisms than by infomercials like this interview.

Brian L. Masson, Harbor City

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