TTP: Made In America

Actual logo image from the US Trade Representative office (we kid you not). 

This "Made in America" logo for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) tells us everything we need to know about who it benefits. American multinational corporations, who'll soon have the power to sue our government over laws that protect our health and environment. 

But if the TPP was 'Made in America', then it can be unmade there. Our campaign allies in the US told us if we help them move just six votes out of 435 in the US Congress, then the TPP will go down. And if it fails there, it fails utterly, because America is the linchpin of the whole deal. 

And in breaking news, one member of Congress just backflipped on the TPP, which means we only need five more. So we're working on a bold and cunning newspaper ad campaign targeting those critical votes.We even have to keep the details secret, because if our targets got wind of what we were up to, it might not work. 

What we can tell you is our allies in the US think it's a cracker idea and they're ready to amplify its power through their own media contacts. But they say we have to get in the papers next week, to pick up on the building momentum against the TPP. 

Can you chip in to get strategic ads in US newspapers next week to help turn five critical votes against the TPP? 

With the full text of the TPP finally out in the open, we now know it includes ISDS provisions that hand foreign companies the right to sue our governments over laws that protect our health and environment.¹ And it locks in the ability of our internet service providers to spy on us over possible copyright infringement.² 

Oh, and those supposed benefits? America's own Department of Agriculture says the TPP will increase Australia's GDP 0.00% by 2025 (no, that's not a typo).³ 

Here in Australia, the government will need Labor's vote to get the deal over the line. Disturbingly, Labor welcomed its potential benefits when the final TPP text was released last week. That's why our surest bet is to make a big, clever intervention in the US to bring down the TPP from within. 

Chip in today to put our secret TPP ad campaign into action: https://www.getup.org.au/secret-weapon

After so many years of secrecy surrounding the TPP, it's only fair that our plan to stop it is a bit hush-hush. But here's what we can say. The ad campaign is designed to use the power of corporate America against itself. That's why they can't know what we're up to, or it could all fall over. 

The key groups we're working with in the US have been fighting the TPP for years. They've walked the halls of Congress and are giving great advice on who to target, what to say and where to advertise for maximum impact. The final vote could all come down to 1 or 2 people that we help change. 

Two things matter now: speed and having the funds to get big ads in as many strategic US newspapers as possible next week. 

Can you help make it all happen? 

Thanks for everything you've done, 
Mark, Alycia, Daney and Nat for the GetUp team