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Parsing the ginormous Trans-Pacific Partnership pact deal

40 percent of U.S. imports come through local ports – so any decline in trade could hurt not just workers on the docks but also those in the Inland Empire where many of those shoes and big screen televisions ordered on Amazon are transported and stored.
MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
Ships wait to be loaded at the Port of Los Angeles in Long Beach on February 13, 2015.

The long-awaited text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been released.

The long-awaited text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been released.

The proposed trade deal would join the US with 11 other Pacific Rim countries, which collectively represent 40-percent of world GDP. It's been a priority for President Obama, but is being criticized by many of his own party, including Hillary Clinton.

Supporters say it'll help level the playing field between all sizes of US companies and their counterparts abroad. They also say it'll increase worker and environmental protections in the member countries.

But critics claim the TPP primarily benefits multinational corporations at the expense of  working class Americans and the deal will lead to job losses in this country, as well as open up the floodgate for unsafe products to enter the US.

Guests:

Caroline Freund, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. One of her specialities is global trade policy

Peter Navarro, a professor of economics and public policy at UC Irvine. He is the author of the new book, “Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means for the World” (Prometheus Books, 2015)

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