U.S. trade representative Michael Froman, who intervened in Britain’s Brexit debate was slammed by one of his own party’s darlings, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, for his aversion to “transparency”.
Rolling Stone magazine reported in 2014:
The U.S. trade representative, Ambassador Michael Froman, is a protégé of former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and a top member of the president’s inner circle.
Froman was confirmed last June to his current trade post, where he’s under direct orders from the president to “open new markets for American businesses.”
His nomination was opposed by only four senators – chiefly Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren, who faulted Froman for refusing to commit to even the paltry standard for transparency in trade talks set by the George W. Bush administration.
Warren was right to be concerned. In backroom negotiations, Froman has worked to undermine new European Union fuel standards intended to lower the continent’s carbon emissions.
Froman is now one of the most senior figures in the world, attempting to push through the controversial, corporatist Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal which has been described as a “stitch up” by opponents, which they claim will lead to big secret deals for the multi-national corporates, and give them the power to sue national governments for legislative changes.
Much like its controversial American-Pacific counterpart, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TTIP deal is being held in secret, with legislators unable to effectively review the document for the public.
Last month, the European Union’s Trade Commissioner, Cecilia Malmström told a leading left-wing campaigner that she does not take her mandate “from the European people.” Her statement came in response to a question on the unpopular Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal between America and the EU, which is opposed by millions of European citizens.
Mr Farage has written about the TTIP deal for Breitbart London before, as U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton declared that the “economic NATO” had to be pushed through before the end of the Obama presidency.
Other news outlets are now beginning to realise that the “transparency” around TTIP is a sham – and perhaps it is no coincidence that Mr. Froman is leading the charge.
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