Indonesia, Largest Muslim Country, to Join Obama’s Trade Deal

Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, plans to join 11 other countries under the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal.

“After Obama met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the White House Monday, Widodo said, “Indonesia intends to join the TPP,” referring to the TransPacific Partnership,” WND’s Curtis Ellis reported.

Ellis noted that Indonesia is the most populated Muslim country, and also where Obama went to elementary school.

“I have a very personal interest in Indonesia given the fact that I spent time there as a child and have relatives who are Indonesian,” stated Obama.

The TPP was recently finalized, but has not been made public or presented to Congress for review.

“Politico reports Republican leaders in the House and Senate want to vote on the TransPacific Partnership in a lame-duck session of Congress after the November 2016 general election,” Ellis noted.

“If it’s such a good deal, then why do they want to keep the American people from having an influence on it?” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) asked. “Why don’t they bring it up during the election [campaign] so people can vote and evaluate their representatives on how they vote?”

Ellis reported:

The TPP is a sweeping global regulatory pact. It establishes an international authority that will write rules for merging the U.S. economy with other countries in the partnership.

The administration reached an agreement on the TPP with 11 countries on four continents after negotiations that lasted more than five years. Indonesia was not involved in the negotiations.

But neither Congress nor the public have been allowed to see the final agreement the administration has negotiated. The president has not released the text of the agreement or the numerous side agreements attached to the TPP.

The deal is considered a “living agreement” so other countries can join the trade agreement over time.

“China, South Korea, the Philippines and Taiwan also have expressed interest in joining the TPP economic union. But it appears the U.S. Congress will not have any say in the matter,” Ellis reported.

Congress gave Obama fast-track trade authority under Trade Promotion Authority earlier this summer, meaning Congress gets only an up or down vote on the trade deal negotiated by Obama.

“An amendment to the fast track bill would have required congressional approval before China could join the TPP. But the amendment, opposed by GOP leadership and the president, was defeated,” Ellis explained.

Sessions criticized the TPP for not allowing Congress to have any say in whether or not a country joins the TPP.

“Sessions read the draft of the TPP agreement earlier this year and described it as “a nascent European Union,” wrote Ellis. “Like the European Union, the Transpacific Partnership calls for the free flow of people, goods and capital among member countries.”

“It’s going to put us in an international commission that allows the sultan of Brunei to have the same vote as the president of the United States,” stated Sessions, referring to the TransPacific Partnership Commission.

Ellis described the commission as “a governing authority created under the agreement, similar to the European Commission that oversees the European Union.”

WND.com reports that despite not revealing the trade deal to the American public and Congress, he and “his surrogates” are detailing the agreement in op-eds and speeches to sell the agreement to other countries.